Story 12: Animes Unite: The Dark Tower
by Turles
Summary: The Animes of 8 different worlds (Gundam W, G-Gundam, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, Lupin the Third, & Outlaw Star) are pulled into a mysterious world and embark on a great quest to the Dark Tower in this Ultimate Anime Crossover.
1. The Old East and the Wild West

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**Argument:**  For many of my frequent readers they've been asking me a singular question.  That question was about the tears, the tears being the doorways between each of the Anime worlds that have allowed them to cross-over into each other.  Now the time has come for them to find the answer to that question, and it is that and other questions that shall drive them and bring them together. 

It's hard to say really where this all began.  I knew that I had to find a way to end my Gundam fan fictions sooner or later.  Eventually it got to the point where I was saying to myself over and over again, that I had to finish this.  Mainly because I knew that it was time to try to grow beyond fan fiction and back to the original stories that I've kept on the back burners for so very, very long. 

There is a fellow fan fiction author, ShadowHawk who had pleaded with me each time to make another Gundam story while I was working on this fic.  He was the one who has given me such villains and mechas to fight in my other fan fictions:  The Knight Blazer for _GW Gundam_, the Cyber Fang for _Evangundam_, the Silencers for _Children of the Gundam_, as well as enemies who became heroes, such as _Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, Kazuki Peacecraft and the Desbats_.  I do owe him a lot, of which I had paid back by writing many of the fan fictions he has posted, those fics being, _Trigun__ GunGraves, Sailor Moon: Sailor Swordians, The Four Gundams of the Apocalypse, Gundam Wing: Zone of the Enders, _and_ Zone of the Enders: Episode Zero_.

When he pleaded with me to make another Gundam fic, I had told him that it was time for me to end my fan fics with this…my "Magnum Opus" (Latin: "Great Work"), this will be my greatest piece of fan fiction that I've ever done.  In the end I myself knew that if I was to finish my Gundam Saga which spans 12 stories, 7 crossed-over Animes, and countless blending from other sources of Anime, Movies, Books and Music. 

This fic will encompass them all, all the fics I have done in the past, all the Animes that were crossed over, they will all meet together once again.  This will be the final story in my Gundam Saga, and this chapter will be the beginning of the end.  Enjoy the fic.   

**Anime's**** Unite:**

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Chapter 1:  The Western Group: **

**The Old East and the Wild West **

It was a marvelous day in Inepral City.  The world of Gunsmoke had changed so much since the day that the Peace Guns (Consisting of Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D Wolfwood, Millie Thompson, Meryl Strife, and Millions Knives) had come back from the Gundam universe.  Yet, time seemed to have its same effect as it did with all of life.  It kept marching onward.  It had been five years since they left and came back.  Since they came back, they had brought the technology to make the "lost technology" work once again; even more so when it had made Gunsmoke a livable world.  Instead of the desert that stretches ever onward in all directions with the twin suns scorching them.  The skies had become unbelievably blue, there were winds across the lands, and there was even water and rain. And grass, cool, green grass.  The lands were farmable and the soil rich.  It was even better since it was the Peace Guns that had done it.  Even better for Vash since it was discovered that it was Millions Knives and not Vash that had caused so much destruction.  Thus the 60 Billion Double Dollar reward had been dropped.  That was if, Vash and Knives would do community service...which they did for five years.

It seems that Vash and Knives were like brothers once again.  Just like in the past in how they were inseparable.  Despite their own differences, the two of them had gotten along quite well.  In that time, five years after coming back from the Gundam Universe, they were visiting Inepral City, the very same city that tried to catch Vash and then hailed him as a hero.  Vash as well as his friends were hailed as heroes all around ever since the planet became a better place to live. 

All five of the Peace Guns had a place booked somewhere in Inepral city while the Plants were being adjusted.  Millie, Meryl, and Wolfwood were comfortably enjoying a drink at the bar while Vash and Knives were at work.

Wolfwood took out one of his crooked cigarettes from his pocket and lit it up as he downed another shot of whiskey.  Wolfwood had tried to quit cold turkey, unfortunately trying to quit that way was too hard.  So, on occasion he would smoke but there was always a watcher who always stopped him.  A very familiar hand reached over and pulled Wolfwood's cigarette away.  Millie looked at him with her unusually kind and happy face. 

"You know that smoking is bad for you darling." She said

Wolfwood smiled, "I'm sorry honey." Then he told her the same thing he told Vash, "Bad habits really do die hard."

Millie just sat closer to him and wrapped her arm around his neck, "its ok, darling. You'll get through this."

Unfortunately Meryl wasn't exactly in the same mood.

She kept tapping the bar impatiently, "Where in the hell are Vash and Knives. They were supposed to be back hours ago."

"Now Meryl." Millie shook her finger at her, "You know repairing the blocks as well as the plants is a tough job. So have a little more patience for them."

As Meryl let out a very exhausted exhale she heard the door open.  She would always turn her head expecting to see that smiling goofball Vash with his arm around his brother Knives coming into the bar to have themselves a good time.  And her wish was fulfilled.  Vash did come in with his brother Knives both of them smiling and ready for a good time.

"Hey Meryl." Knives smiled.

In the past when Knives smiled it sent chills through anyone.  When Meryl saw Knives smile it was a genuine one, one that seemed to be filled with warmth.  The same with Vash.  The two of them were genuinely happy.

"Hey, Meryl" Vash smiled, "Let's have a few drinks shall we."

"Only one, Vash" Meryl ordered holding up one finger

"Aw" Vash said like a disappointed five-year-old

"Don't argue with me Vash. You know you can't hold liquor. You just get sick and have a major hangover."

Knives leaned in to whisper into Vash's ear, "I always knew you were on a short leash Vash."

Vash made a very frustrated sulking face, "Alright, just one drink."

"Honestly Vash." Meryl mildly scolded, "Sometimes you can act like a kid."

"That's what I tell him." Knives said as he sat down and had a glass of red wine.

            Despite Meryl's restrictions, Vash and his friends had continued to have fun in their own special way but thanks to Mille and Meryl it never quite got out of control.  Wolfwood tried to smoke again, but Millie pulled it out of his mouth again and reached into his pocket to get the rest of his supply.  Of course Wolfwood was surely about this, but if it was for this woman that he loved he figured that he could suffer a little nicotine withdrawal.  Though the only way he felt that he could cope with this would be to pour himself another drink of Jack Daniels…his own kind of crisis management. 

            Vash on the other hand felt a little smothered ever since Meryl restricted his drinking habits, but he reminded himself that she was only looking out for him.  Thinking of it that way Vash knew that not very many women have cared for him like this.  In that moment the two of them connected eye to eye while the rest of the world was drowned out like slipping under water.  They moved closer to each other and their lips met each other in their embrace.  At the same time Millie and Wolfwood had met each other in the same embrace.   

            As Vash, Meryl, Millie, and Wolfwood were in each other's arms, Knives watched as he sipped his red wine.  He understood what love was from watching those two couples, and it was with that he understood even more why Vash as well as Rem Saverem wanted to save both the spider and the butterfly. 

            The night progressed with dancing and some drinking (most of that on Wolfwood's part) but then came the time to go back to the Inn.  Going back Vash couldn't help but star up at the night sky; the three moons of red, blue, and pale yellow as well as the stars above.  He always did things like that…stare off into space, be it the blue sky or the night sky itself.  He would always think about the past when he did that, but at that time he was thinking about only one part of the past.  It was about that short time when those tow girls came into his wandering life, Meryl Striffe and Millie Thompson, as well as the priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood.  He couldn't help but smile at those events…the good…and the bad…even that time when they encountered the Preventers. 

            "What are you thinking about Vash?" Meryl asked

            Vash only smiled, "I was thinking about the Preventers."

            "You mean those boys and those robots?"  Meryl scratched her head, "That was over five years ago, why are you thinking about them now?"

            Vash chuckled, "I'm not sure."

            "You've always been like that, Vash."  Wolfwood had remarked as he reached into his pocket hoping that there would be a cigarette there but reminded himself of Millie. 

            "Then again, we do owe them a lot."

            "He's right about that."  Millie remarked, "Without them, our world wouldn't be as good as it is now."

            Yet Vash couldn't have told them about what he was truly thinking.  For the last few nights, Vash has had some very odd dreams…unlike any that he's had in the past.  One dream he had he only remembered a fragment of it; he remembered seeing a small boy dressed in a suit and wildling a piece of wood.  He tried as hard as he could to see what he was making but he could only see partial shapes sticking out of the wood.  There were jagged edges much like a key at least that was the upper part of it.  The lower part of the wood towards the boys hand was a very elegant curved s-shape like the arch of a woman's back…and that was all that Vash could remember about that dream. 

            The thing that stayed with him after he woke up was that over all feeling.  That ominous kind of feeling like watching a scary movie and knowing that something was going to happen but then become shocked when it actually happens…and Vash wasn't about to tell anyone about that.  At least not until he knew for sure what it was all about…

              In the many rooms of the inn, they did have a few couple's suites.  Such as Vash and Meryl who shared the same bed together, as a matter of fact they had been sharing the same bed for quite some time.  The same goes for Wolfwood and Millie, it was as if they were married, even though they didn't exactly have the rings or the titles, but the love between them was all that they needed. 

            That night Vash lay asleep in his bed with Meryl curled up next to him with her head upon his chest, it always did pain Meryl to touch Vash's scars…to think that he had to go through so much.  Yet, she felt relieved that he didn't have to do it anymore, he wouldn't have anymore scars and no more pain. 

            Vash was dreaming again…

            He dreamt of walking down a dirt path, which was the first thing that his eyes in the dream had told him.  He was looking down at his boots that stuck out from under his red duster.  He then looked around and saw green leaves, but then his eyes focused even more in this dreamy blur.  He saw that he was surrounded by rose bushes, all of them different colors, red, yellow, orange, lavender, peach, pink, and white.  They were all in full bloom; it was beautiful to Vash's eyes, especially the red roses that reminded him of the red germanium that Rem loved so much.  He reminded himself that the color red means determination and courage in the language of flowers, the very same words that Rem had told him.  Yet, the beauty seemed to be shadows, as if something was creeping across them like an enormous eel that blocked out the sun. 

            Vash stood up from looking at the roses and saw what was at the end of the dirt path…the tower…a dark tower that rose to the sky with its pillars, turrets, and windows populating its skin from the single pillar like branches and leaves of a tree.  Vash felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of it…nothing he had ever seen was so enormous…from what he could see it was as if the tower had breached through the clouds that swirled around its mass like cream in coffee.  The clouds themselves looked dark like storm clouds. 

            "Come to me…" A voice called out from the tower, "Come to me…"

            Vash woke up with a gasp and Meryl too had awakened feeling Vash's fright.  In the darkness of their room, Meryl went and hugged Vash pressing her nude warmth against his.

            "Vash…" she said with the sadness in her voice, "What's wrong?"

            Vash had to confess, "It's my dreams."  He said burying his face into his hands, "It's been the same dream over and over again…I can't escape it."

            Meryl brought herself to Vash's front, "Vash…look at me."

            Vash brought up his face to look at the woman he loved sitting upon the bed completely exposed much like Vash's scars.

            "You don't have to bear it alone…not anymore, I am here with you."

            At the same time, across the multiple worlds that exist in the alternate realities of time and space there was Japan in the year 1878, the 11th year of the Meiji era.  It was in the city of Tokyo where the Kamiya Kasshin Dojo lay and it was there that there was a family in the greatest sense…the Kenshin Gumi, which consisted of four people.  There was the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin School, Kaoru Himura wife to Kenshin Himura, a man who was once known as Hitokiri Battousai the Manslayer.  At least that was in his past, same with a lot of the members of this small family.  Each one had a terrible past that they've had to come to terms with.  Such as Yahiko, one of the only students of the Kamiya Kasshin style.  He was formerly a pickpocket, but thanks to Kenshin's intervention he could give up that life and learn the swordsmanship of Kamiya Kasshin from Miss Kaoru.  Then there was Sanosuke Sagara, formerly of the Sekihoutai a group of soldiers who were really just farmers that worked for the Imperial army during the revolution.  Yet, they were betrayed by the people that they worked for, and Captain Sagara (the man that Sanosuke looked up to) was executed and labeled a traitor.  With all these pasts that they have, each of them has had to move forward…and they did so together.  Just like any kind of family they've stuck together and been there for one another through the good times as well as the bad.     

            Life seemed so wonderful for them, Kaoru going around to teach lessons as well as passing on the teachings of the Kamiya Kasshin style to Yahiko.  Despite the fact that Yahiko does tend to give her a hard time, such as calling her ugly and so on.  Though he never quite means it, perhaps it's just the things that people do when they're together. 

            Sanosuke was somewhat of a freeloader, though only Miss Kaoru had the gall to say that to his face.  Then again those two were always at each others throats sometimes.  Even over the smallest things, like that time when the four of them were going to Kyoto on a train.  Sanosuke and Miss Kaoru were arguing with each other over what powered the train, Sano believed that a ghost was power it.  While Miss Kaoru was trying to tell him that it was merely a tea kettle.  Then again Sano was always the superstitious one…such as he believed that when a camera takes his picture it'll take a little bit of his soul away.

            This was the Kenshin-gumi, a wonderful group of people, and a family at that.

            It was spring time, and the weather was starting to get a lot warmer since summer was on its way.  The days were so nice to all of them that it seemed criminal to just stay inside all day.  There was Sanosuke who was lying against one of the wooden pillars and enjoying the warm weather.  The biggest decision that Sano was trying to make with himself was whether to stay where he was and enjoy the warmth of the sun or go into town to eat or even go and gamble a little.    

            As Sano sat sunbathing, Miss Kaoru was out in town earning some Yen teaching sword lessons, while Yahiko was cleaning the training hall.  Having the cleaning cloth in his hands and running up and down the hardwood floor in the crouched position.  He did somewhat resent doing so many of these chores, especially on such a warm and beautiful day as it was outside.  Yet, he still did what he was asked to do because he knew what Miss Kaoru would be like if she found out that he wasn't doing his duties. 

            Kenshin on the other hand was over by the washing pail doing the laundry.  He scrubbed each Hakama and Kimono trying to get the dirt out.  It was at times like those when he was thinking about the past.  It seemed ironic that only a few alternate universes away there was another peace loving fighter just like him who wielded a gun instead of a sword.  Kenshin wasn't thinking about the terrible memories of his past, he was thinking about all the good times that he's had.  He then wondered if he had suffered so much only to experience such happiness with these people at the Kamiya Kasshin dojo.  After all if he hadn't…who knows where he might have ended up?  In a way he was glad that things turned out the way that they did, because he had Kaoru.  He smiled thinking about how wonderful it would be to see her again, even though she was only gone for a few hours.

            The gates of the dojo opened.

            "I'm back."  Kaoru called out

            "Welcome back, Kaoru."  Kenshin smiled at her and continued to work

            "You're working pretty hard Kenshin."  Kaoru had said as she hugged him from behind, "Unlike some people I could name."  She looked over to where Sano was sunbathing with a very disturbed look.  "If only he did something around here, I wouldn't feel this way about him." 

            Kenshin didn't say anything to that because he really couldn't defend Sano in this case and so he continued to scrub.

            "How have you been feeling Kenshin?"  Kaoru asked

            "Just fine, Kaoru."

            "You needn't lie to me, Kenshin.  I've been overhearing you walking around late at night."

            It was true; Kenshin would wake up in the middle of the night and wander around the dojo.  Though the reason for it is something that Kenshin wanted to keep to himself, but with Kaoru at his side he knew that he could confide in her, because she was his wife. 

            "I've been having strange dreams, Kaoru."  Kenshin explained

            "It's alright, Kenshin.  Dreams can't hurt you."

            "It wasn't just any dream."  Kenshin's tone seemed to change to being very ominous, the very same tone that he had whenever he would speak seriously about anything, "It felt incredibly real, as if I was there."

            "Where was it?"

            "I don't know.  It wasn't like anyplace that I had ever seen.  There were mountains of such majesty that they rival Mount Fuji itself.  It seemed so beautiful in every direction.  I was standing in the middle of a field of wheat.  I knew that I was on top of a hill and I looked down in each direction and I saw a small house in the distance…I don't know why but I went down to it.  It was only a small house, one floored like our dojo.  I went up to it and I saw someone sitting on the steps."

            "Who was it?"  Kaoru asked

            "I don't know, I never saw him before.  It wasn't even a man, it was a boy.  He seemed about the same age as Yahiko.  He was dressed in western style clothes, a suit and tie.  It seemed very unbefitting of a boy his age.  I saw that he was carving something out of wood in his hand.  As I had approached the front steps he looked up at me and smiled.  It was as if he was expecting me. 

            "_Welcome, Kenshin Himura._  He said to me, _we'll be needing people like you very soon.  _And that was when I woke up.  I don't know what it means but I have a very distinct feeling that something is going to happen very soon."

            "Something like when we came into the company of those Preventers?"

            That time that Kenshin and his friends had journeyed into the After Colony Universe was only a month ago, but it was an adventure that none of them would soon forget.  Kenshin still had the one gift that was given to him by a man named Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez; it was a Preventer Standard Issue Beam Saber as Johan had told him.  _Don't use it unless you intend to kill someone,_ Johan had also warned Kenshin who didn't know what he meant by it.  At least not until he got back home and tried out the beam saber on a tree branch and the branch came down as if it was only made of straw.  When that happened, Kenshin knew that he couldn't use something like it. 

            Thinking about Miss Kaoru's question, Kenshin had a very gut feeling about this.

            "I think so, that I do."  Kenshin said

            "Then what should we do now?" 

            "I think we should get ourselves ready for a long journey."

            Back on the planet Gunsmoke, Vash the Stampede and Nicholas D. Wolfwood were brining up breakfast to their bedrooms.  Not just for themselves but also for their ladies that were lying in bed waiting to wake up.

            Vash and Wolfwood had passed each other with a good smile on their faces.  It was as if without any telepathy on Vash's part, the two of them already knew what the other was thinking about.  Then again, it wasn't exactly any mystery of what happened last night.  For one, there's always a look on someone's face when they've gone through the act of love.  They come out with the greatest smile on their face, that it providing either it was their first time or it was the greatest that they've ever had.  Then again, Wolfwood could hear Vash and Meryl through the wooden walls most of the night.  The same could be said about Vash hearing him and Millie through the wall as well. 

            Coming to the door of their rooms, both Vash and Wolfwood knew that their hands were full from the food trays.  So to compensate like many of us do, they shifted the tray table a little bit so that their hands could be free to open the door.  With the door opened, Vash was about to go in but something made him look over to his friend.  Wolfwood simply stood in the doorway grinning at Vash, but then gave him a small wink before going into his own room.  Vash smiled at this and went into his own room; he closed the door quietly behind him using his foot so that he wouldn't spill the food on his tray.  He came over to Meryl's bedside and saw her there curled up to one of the pillows in her nude state.  She looked so beautiful and peaceful there that it seemed such a shame that Vash had to disturb her.  Still, keeping quiet Vash set the tray down on the nightstand next to the bed.  He then sat down next to Meryl being extra careful with the steel spring mattress, she stirred only for a little bit, and Vash reached out and stroked her raven black hair.  It seemed like the perfect moment…until…

SLAM!

The door opened wide with Wolfwood busting through it, "Vash, you've got to come see this!"     

Meryl awoke immediately and seeing instantly that it wasn't just Vash there, she reached down for the covers and pulled them up over her body. 

Vash slapped his forehead, "Oh, what is it now?"

"It's the tear."  Wolfwood said, "It's happening again." 

The word tear struck a deep chord in Vash, it struck it in all of them.  They had all seen this thing called the tear once before.  It was a long time ago, when Vash had defeated Knives and brought him back to that village a few isles away from L and R town.  They were trying to care for Knives, and then he had vanished into a hole in the closet that lead into another world; a world in which young boys piloted huge machines called Gundams.  It was there that they had made some great friends and made their last stand against Knives.  After that Knives had finally seen the futility in fighting and joined Vash in order to repent for the crimes that he committed. 

Vash was quick to move as he got himself dressed into his leather jumpsuit and his red duster.  He had grabbed his gun, sunglasses, and bag.  He looked over to Wolfwood and said,     

"I think we should all pack." 

Within a matter of half an hour, the Peace Guns had gotten themselves ready as if they were going to another town.  Vash, Meryl, Wolfwood, Millie, and Knives all had gathered in that one room where Millie and Wolfwood stayed.  They saw there in the wall across from the bed, the tear.  A perfect diamond shape cut into the wall as if it were a window.  Yet, its edged were blurred like looking at the distant mountains through the atmospheric haze.  Inside the tear they saw a desert, much like how their world was before Vash and his friends came back with the blocks from the After Colony Universe. 

"Where will it lead?" Meryl asked

"I don't know."  Vash said, "But I think that we should go through."

"That's crazy Vash, you don't know if you'll get back or not."

"We got back the last time."  He smiled down at Meryl, "I'll go first."

The others moved away from him to give Vash some room because he was going to go through the tear at a run.  With his bag over his shoulder, Vash ran to the tear and as he made it to the threshold, he vanished into the tears borders. 

His friends looked and saw him on the other side, but his image was blurred and distorted as if he was an object at the bottom of a well.  He waved through the tear and gestured for the others to come through.  Next, Wolfwood ran to the tear and came out through the other side safe and sound.  Soon, Meryl, Millie, and Knives came through the tear.  They may have gotten through the tear, but where they were was something that was a complete mystery. 

They looked and saw nothing but sand in every direction.  The winds blew the sands gently across the dunes that were in every direction of where the Peace Guns stood.  Being in that place brought back quite a few memories for many of them who grew up in a world that was filled with dust, sand, and scorching heat.  Yet the heat seemed to be so much less than what it was in their memories.  Vash looked up at the sky shielding his eyes from the rays, and saw that there was only one sun that hovered in the sky. 

That was when it hit Vash that they were no longer on the planet of Gunsmoke. 

            Back in the year 1878 (the 11th Year of the Meiji Era) Japan, Kenshin Himura had called all his friends to dinner that night to discuss something that he had confide in Kaoru only that afternoon.  He knew that since he told Miss Kaoru, he had to tell the others.  After all they had been there for him when he fought the Juupongatana that was lead by the Manslayer successor Makoto Shishio.  So, Kenshin knew that he could tell them, especially since he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that they would be needed.  Like that feeling that people would get at the grocery store in picking up an extra item because they had the intuition that they were out of it. 

            Around the dinner table, Kenshin had confessed everything.  He told them about the dream that he had and how he feels that it could be a premonition.  Telling him that something would happen in which they would all be needed. 

            Sanosuke shook his head, "That is one hell of a dream, Kenshin."

            "It didn't feel like just a dream."  Kenshin restated, "There was something that felt so real about it and I think that we should be ready for whatever happens to us all."   

"Meaning what?"  Yahiko asked

"I think we should all pack for a long journey ahead of us."

Yahiko, Sano, and Kaoru did just that, despite the fact that all of them felt that there was a certain amount of insanity to what they were doing.  Sanosuke himself tried to reason and rationalize this, which was an odd thing to do especially for someone as superstitious as he was.  Still, he had a deep trust and respect for Kenshin, especially after he was defeated by him.  Ever since that time, Sanosuke had seen Kenshin do some incredible things.  He knew that at first sometimes what he asks may seem unreasonable, but in the end it does make sense why he wanted it a certain way.  That's what kept Sanosuke packing, that there would be a time at the end of all this when he would understand. 

Yahiko packed and thought about the things that could happen as well as what Kenshin had said at the dinner table.  Like Sanosuke, Yahiko had tremendous respect for Kenshin.  Mostly because of his strength, the techniques of Hiten Mitsurugi style, the speed and power of each blow.  He also admired Kenshin for his resolve of his ethics.  The idea of not killing and still be able to save lives to do it.  It may seem impossible but really when you think about it there are ways to save people and not kill anyone...plenty of ways.

It didn't take to long for everyone to pack up as if they were going to trek their way across Japan on foot.  To Kenshin it was pretty second nature...hell, he did it for nearly 11 years. 

Miss Kaoru on the other hand was packing but as she did she kept looking over to Kenshin as if she was waiting for a more specific answer for what was going to happen.  She concluded that either Kenshin didn't want to tell or that he didn't know.  She decided to leave Kenshin for a moment and take a look around the Dojo.  She had the suspicion that perhaps it would be the last time that she would see the dojo for a very long time or that it would be the last time that she would see it...ever.  She dared not to think of such thoughts but it was something that couldn't be helped like an itch that wouldn't go away unless it were to be scratched.  She looked over the grounds of the dojo and she came to that same tree where the hole in the wall was located when she and the others had visited the Preventers.

She turned the corner and there it was...the tear; the very thing that had brought them to the company of the Preventers and had brought them back to this world.  She looked into it in shock when she saw that inside the blurred edges of the tear she saw a forest.  Yet, the forest had trees unlike any that grew in Japan, they were taller, thicker, the kind of trees that looked as if they took decades and even centuries to grow. 

"Kenshin."  She called, and then called louder, "Kenshin!"  And even louder, "KENSHIN!"

Within a matter of a few moments, Kenshin came running out of the house to where Kaoru was standing. 

"What is it?"  he asked with exhausted breath.

Kaoru didn't say a thing, all that needed to be done was for her eyes to move and her hand pointed to that one section in the wall.  Kenshin followed her line of sight and to where he finger had pointed to.  That was when Kenshin's eyes had connected as if his eyes and the thing in the wall were magnetized to each other.  He knew sharply like finally breaking through ice to the waters below that this was the thing that he was waiting for. 

"Gather what you've packed, Kaoru."  Kenshin said, "I'll get my bag and tell Yahiko and Sanosuke that the tear has appeared once again." 

It was only a matter of minutes before all of the Kenshin-gumi had gathered at the tear in the wall.  All of them stood around one another hoping that someone would say something or at least do something to break the silence.  Instead they all stood there looking at it like people being mesmerized by a show of incredible visuals. 

After a few minutes of bare silence, Kenshin had broken it.  He stepped forward and looked into the tears opening. 

"I'll go first."  He said not even looking at the others, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and the strings of his duffel bag and jumped into the tear.  He appeared blurred but safe on the other side, and so one by one the Kenshin-gumi had followed suit into the tear. 

The portal itself had closed up behind them like a wound that was being stitched.  Just like that the Kenshin-gumi was gone from that world of 1878 Japan, but there were other worlds that this. 

To be continued…


	2. The Young Soldiers

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 2: The Northern Group:**

**The Young Soldiers**

            Across the seas of time and space, there was another Earth in the year 2015; life on that little planet had seen some extremely dramatic changes in the past fifteen years.  It all began with what has been called _The Second Impact_.  It was an event in which the Antarctic continent had been melted faster than an ice cube in a fire, raising the tide all around the world, and changing the life of the people there forever.  Yet, the people were lead to believe that the Second Impact was caused by a comet that crashed into the South Pole, but they were deceived.  The truth of this was that a creature was found in the Antarctic, something that would be called the 1st Angel…Adam. 

            It was from that singular event that began a chain of events that lead to the creation of the robots known as the Evangelions, the only machines that could fight the angels; a group of creatures that kept attacking the new city of Tokyo-3.  The first three were piloted by three special children; Rei Ayanami who piloted Evangelion Unit Zero, Shinji Ikari who piloted Evangelion Unit One, and last of all Asuka Langely Sohryuu who piloted Evangelion Unit Two.  Over a course of a few months these three children had fought against the angels, but as time went on it occurred to them that something was going on.  Something very sinister…

            In fact what the organizations of Nerv and Seelee had been planning to do was cause another event that would be Third Impact.  An event in which all humanity would be reverted back to an original state, back to a state of primordial liquid; it was this plan that was called _The Human Instrumentality Project._ 

            The Third Impact had already occurred.

            Shinji Ikari had fought one last time with his Evangelion and was left there on a white beach next to an ocean that was stained red.  Yet, he wasn't alone; at his side lying in bandages was Asuka Langely Sohryuu.  Even though Shinji never noticed but Asuka had changed in the last battle.  Her eyes that were once blue had turned to brown.  

            But, that didn't matter to Shinji, because fate had dealt him a very shitty hand.  That much was evident with his father…Gendo Ikari.  A man so ruthless that made the most insane of madmen look like saints.  It was Gendo who laid the first dent in Shinji's mind, it was when Shinji was a young boy and Gendo had abandoned him as if he was a stray dog that needed to be gotten rid of.  This happened after Shinji's mother had died in an accident.  That much was evident that Shinji's mind had been severely scarred by these events.      

            After the last battle that Shinji had to deal with, he had to make a choice…a choice whether to live or whether to die.  He chose to live, but was his choice the right one?  That was something that he wondered as he sat there on the beach next to Asuka as well as a few feet from a ceremonial wooden cross that he had placed there.  Upon that cross was nailed a silver cross that was so short that it almost looked like a plus sign.  It meant a great deal to the boy, because that grave marked the memory of Misato Katsuragi, a very special woman that Shinji had met when he came to Tokyo-3.  One of few women who had shown him any sort of kindness in the greatest sense of the word and it was actually Misato that gave Shinji a kick in the ass in order to get him to pilot the Eva one last time.  He was in a slump before the last battle; because of something he did…something terrible. 

            Shinji looked over to where Asuka lay and he couldn't help but feel angry at her.  Angry for so many different reasons…one of these reasons was when he was in the hospital with Asuka.  She was in a comatose state from an encounter with one of the angels who had invaded her mind.  He tried to wake up but she didn't move, she didn't speak, she just stared with glazed eyes up at the ceiling, and never even turning her gaze to him.  Perhaps that's why he was so angry at her, and perhaps that's why he tried to place his hands around her neck on that beach in the hopes of choking her.  He wanted her to acknowledge him, but instead she didn't even give him one scrap of validation.

            Yet, Shinji couldn't bring himself to kill Asuka like that.  The thought of her leaving him to be alone in an empty world as the one he was in was too much to bear.  With his hands around Asuka's neck, Shinji couldn't help but cry. 

            As his tears fell onto Asuka's plug suit, she finally had some movement.  Her right eye (while her left eye was covered by a bandage) had moved to look at Shinji.  Yet, her expression remained as neutral as ever. 

            Yet…she whispered one thing, "I feel sick." 

            Perhaps it was true what Robert Browning said how the world would end, it wouldn't end with a bang…but with a whimper.  For Shinji began to weep as his hands had let go of Asuka's neck, he fell onto his side into the bleached white sands, and he looked up to the sky to see that ring of blood that stretched from the east and to the west like the rings of Saturn.  He began to question why he made the choice at all. 

            In another alternate world, in the city of Tokyo in the present day, it was one fine summer's day.  It had been at least a year since the defeat of Galaxia. The Sailor Senshi (Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto, and Ami) were all enjoying themselves in their various lives. The Inner Senshi were relieved that the summer had started especially after all the work that they had to do over the spring semester.

As for the Outer Senshi (Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna), they had their hands full with raising Hotaru.  It was quite a delight for them; they had watched Hotaru grow over the past year.  It was strange that after the battle with Galaxia, she returned to the age of 9.  Still it was, in Michiru's opinion, to never question a miracle because that's when the miracle fades.  So, they continued to raise Hotaru.

It was on that summer's day in June on the steps of Rei's Temple that they got a very special visit.  Usagi sat on the steps enjoying the sun along with her friend Minako. While Ami read a rather medium book called, "A Critique of Pure Reason" Makoto was leaning against the post of the temple building.  While Rei was sweeping the walkways free of the dead leaves from the many trees.  Finally lying in the shade of the temple were the cats, Luna and Artemis.  As the day burned ever onward, there were the sounds of steps coming up the stone walkway of the temple.

Rei didn't pay any attention to it since in her mind she thought that it was just people coming to visit and pray at the temple.  As she heard the footsteps drawing ever closer she didn't look up.

She only said, "Good afternoon".

But that was when her ears were given a rather sudden shock.

"After all this time, that's all you have to say?" A very sarcastic and humorous voice said.

Rei looked up and saw three very familiar faces.  The first that greeted her eye was the young and handsome face of Seiya Kou, his black hair shimmering in the bright sunlight of the day.  He was smiling as he raised his hand to her.  Rei's heart had made a leap from being calm to being right into her throat as her face turned several shades of red.  She looked to Seiya's right, and found his friends and comrades. 

At his right was the very tall, Taiki. Even though he was rather on the very serious side, he too was smiling down at Rei's his hair tapered down over his shoulder.  Finally there was the young Yaten who only gave a smirk to Rei as he greeted her. 

Rei couldn't say a word.  She was utterly speechless, which was an odd occasion for her since she always had something to say about a certain situation.  Basically, a last word freak, especially when it came to an argument with Usagi.  It didn't take long for Usagi and Minako to see that there was something wrong.  But due to the bright sunlight of the day, neither one of them could see what was wrong or who was at the steps.

So, they just went over to Rei who stood petrified.

"Rei, what's wrong?" Usagi asked

Minako rubber her eyes to get a little sleepiness out of her eyes, and that was when she looked up and saw what was the cause for Rei's position.  She saw them...The Three Lights, or rather, the Starlights as the Senshi had found out on one day onboard an airplane.

"Seiya." Usagi uttered in shock to see him again.

"Hey, dumpling." Seiya smiled

"Yaten...Taiki." Minako finished as she too was in shock over this sudden visit.

"Hey, aren't you three going to say anything else?" Seiya asked with concern

Usagi, even though she was a klutz a lot of the time, when it really came down to it she always came through.

"It's great to see all of you again." She said in an oddly mature voice.

"Is that all?" Seiya asked then stayed silent for a moment "Well come on, give me a hug." He said with open arms, "Or are you going to stand there like a statue?"

Usagi couldn't refuse she opened her arms and hugged Seiya.  Minako followed suit when she did the same thing with great enthusiasm for Taiki and then very quickly over to Yaten.

As Usagi drew back she looked up to Seiya, "What brings you back here?"

"Let's talk on the steps, shall we?" Seiya suggested

Rei had finally snapped out of her trance, "Yes, let's go."

Finally, all eight of them were on the steps of the temple building.

"What brings all of you back here?" Minako asked

"Well," Seiya began, "We haven't had any enemies lately, and we kind of missed all of you, though these two won't admit it." He pointed to Taiki and Yaten

"So, we asked the princess if we could go to Earth and she allowed us."

"But wouldn't your planet be defenseless?" Makoto asked

"She does have a point." Ami brought up, "You should always be prepared for the unexpected."

"Well, we've been given, temporary leave of absence." Seiya said as he leaned back against the temple post.

"And one other thing" Rei brought up, "why did you come to us in Male form? We all know that your really females."

Seiya blushed, "I figured that this would be a little more comforting to all of you. Plus you should have seen the looks on your faces." He laughed, "It was priceless."

Usagi pouted, "Don't make fun of us, Seiya."

"By the way." Seiya changed the subject, "Where's Momoru? And Chibi-Usa?"

"Momoru's still studying in America." Rei explained, "As for Chibi-Usa, she went back to her real family." 

"Ok."  Seiya said

"How long are you going to be here?" Ami asked

"Why do you want to know?" Seiya asked in a very sensual way, "Are you looking to get some?"

Ami's face went beet red when Seiya said that to her.

"Seiya." Taiki said with a firm tone of voice like a peeved mother, "The Princess allowed us to stay here for three months. But if there is any emergency she would notify us."

As the Inner Senshi and the Starlights sat on the steps enjoying the day, something had to spoil the moment.

"So," a voice said, "You three are back."

The Starlights opened their eyes and found out who was speaking to them.  It was the Outer Senshi, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru.  It was Haruka who stood as the leader of the pack who looked down at the Starlights sitting on the steps of the temple.  She looked down at them with narrow eyes and a fire of hatred at them.

"Still mad at us?" Seiya asked very innocently to Haruka

"You're still outsiders to this system." Haruka said in a very commanding tone, "And it's our job to protect this system from outsiders."

"I thought we had put this issue aside." Seiya stated

"We still have a bit of a score to settle." Haruka answered back as she took her hands out of her pocket.

"Oh, I know what this is about." Seiya smirked

"What?" Taiki asked Seiya

"She's just jealous." Seiya answered

"Jealous of what?" Haruka asked with her eyes still narrow

"You're just jealous that we can turn into men, and you can't." Seiya said very snobbishly and then stuck his tongue out at Haruka.

"Ooh." Taiki shook his head, "Ooh. That was a very, very low blow, Seiya."

"Very mature of you" Yaten said with his hand over his face.

Haruka on the other hand looked at Seiya in shock.  She didn't know what to say or even if she should say anything. 

"Ok, that's it." Haruka snarled as she took out her transformation pen out of her pocket.

It was then up to Usagi to make peace.  She stepped out in between the two groups like a human shield.

Her arms were outspread as she pleaded, "Please, we're not enemies with each other. I agree with Seiya, I thought that we put this fight to rest. We're all Senshi here. We mustn't fight each other, it isn't right!"

Even though Usagi was looking towards Haruka, she never saw what Seiya and Haruka did at the same time.  The two soldiers were smiling at the same time.

"You're still the same." Haruka smiled  
"Still the peacemaker." Seiya whispered

"So please" Usagi pleaded with great earnest from both of them, "Let's be at peace with each other."

At last, Haruka had put her transformation pen back in her pocket and backed down like a mad bull being calmed down.  Seiya was always calm the whole time, even though he had his hand on the transformation tool the whole time.

"Good." Usagi said with relief as she sat down on the steps. "This is the first step to our friendship. As I remember, we weren't exactly the best of friends either, right Haruka?"

"Uh..." Haruka paused even though she was too proud to admit anything, "Yes."

"As I recall" Usagi continued, "You called the Inner Senshi, 'little girls'. As you can see we've made tremendous growth with time."

Haruka never showed it, but she did feel guilty about calling the Inner Senshi "little girls". It was a very low blow, especially since they were all on the same side, except she was too self-righteous to notice it at the time.

 "Uh..." she paused again, "Yes."

"Now that we are all together" Rei stepped forward, "We may as well enjoy ourselves."   
"I agree." Minako said standing up as if embracing the life in the air.

"Don't you think so, Haruka?" Michiru asked as she hugged Haruka's arm.

Haruka chuckled, "Sure."

All of them, the Inner Senshi, the Outer Senshi and the Starlights enjoyed the day as it rolled on.  The days of summer always seem to roll on the fastest; perhaps it was because of all the things that could be done and without the slightest cares in the world.  Still, there was something that was bothering one of the Senshi…actually two of them.  Rei and Minako, who both were having bad dreams…they couldn't remember them.  They had become like memories of the distant past, blurry and hard to conjure up the details.  All they knew was the feeling that they left within them as well as one detail…seeing a man in chains in a dungeon and he called to them…_Help me…_

            Back in the world of 2015 at the site of where Tokyo-3 used to be, Shinji Ikari continued to lie on that bleach white beach next to Asuka.  To Shinji, life seemed to be completely topsy-turvy, the world was dead…nothing made sense here.  He went back into the memories of his life and remembered that time not too long ago when he, Misato, and Asuka had traveled through a tear.  He remembered how he met a very special group of boys, the Preventers and their Gundams and how he, Asuka, and Misato had helped them clear their name when they were framed as criminals.  He even remembered the gift that was given to him by the pilot named Johan…it was a cassette tape.  It had a song that had touched Shinji very deeply.  It was called Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. 

            _Is this the real life?_

_            Is this just fantasy_

_            Caught in a landslide_

_            No escape from reality_

_            Open your eyes_

_            Look up to the skies and see_

The melodic words of that song seemed to resonate in Shinji's mind, yet he remembered that he couldn't play his music anymore.  The batteries for his player had died a long time ago like everything else in this world.  He thought to himself that if he could have anything, it would be to hear that song in the earphones of his player once again, but he was left to only sing the song to himself in his mind.

            _I'm just a poor boy_

_            I need no strife_

_            Because I'm easy come, easy go_

_            Little high, little low_

_            Anyway the wind blows…_

_            Doesn't really matter to me…_

_            To me…_

            It just didn't feel the same when Shinji sung out those lyrics in his mind than when he actually heard that man's beautiful voice from his player.  The other worst part of trying to play something in one's mind like that is that sometimes the music skips like those old record players from the later part of the twentieth century or those primitive CD players.  It was when the mind would come to the chorus that it was hard to remember what the next verse was.  In Shinji's case, he couldn't remember the rest of the song after that.  All he could do was repeat that melodic piano and soothing voice in his mind…over…and over…and over again.  At last under a lively sky and surrounded by a dead world, Shinji had fallen asleep.       

            At first, his face held the expression that he was crying, but as his mind had drifted off into sleep his face relaxed.  It was as if he had found some kind of peace on that bleach white sand or perhaps in the depths of his mind.  Soon, he was dreaming.

            In his dreams, he dreamt about a different life; one that was happy and so was the people.  There were no Eva's to pilot and no Angels to fight.  It was the different life that was shown to him as he was trapped inside the instrumentality project.  His mother was still alive and his father had never abandoned him.  Asuka was his long time childhood friend; he was the greatest of buddies with Kenuske and Suzahara.  Misato was their teacher at school.  Rei Ayanami was the new student at the school; she seemed so much happier, so bouncy and full of life.  Not like how she was before, always so drab, dull, quiet, passive, and blank as a white sheet.  Plus, Shinji himself was a happier person…it truly was a wonderful life. 

            Shinji sat at his desk; he could feel his face smiling…something that he hadn't done in a very long time.  Thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't remember the last time he even smiled because he was happy.  There were no times like that in his life…not at all…at least not that he could recall. 

            In his dream, Shinji saw someone sitting next to him.  He couldn't remember why, but he felt compelled to look in that direction.  Like that feeling of a presence in an empty room, the presence of someone else there.  As Shinji was looking he noticed that the kid didn't look Japanese, in fact he looked very different than the other kids…even Asuka.  As a matter of fact he didn't even look like a kid, he seemed much older than that.  Almost as if he were in his 20's or so, he also had sandy blonde, his skin was fair yet tanned as if he had been out in the sun for a very long time.  He also had a pair of eyes that had a very odd kind of shade to them.  A dirty shade of blue, like the colors of blue and brown has been lightly mixed to produce a very light hazel blend. 

As Shinji looked, the man sitting there turned his gaze at Shinji and he saw that his eyes were honey brown, an almost golden color.   

            "We will need people you, Shinji Ikari."  He spoke softly; he spoke in a way that wasn't frightening like in nightmares.  He seemed so gentle and kind when he spoke, "You and all you're friends."

            "What do you mean?" Shinji demanded, "And who are you?"

            "You'll find out soon enough."

            His image began to fade away as if he was made of smoke that was drifting into nothingness, and Shinji began to awaken.  The thing that woke him up was sound…the sounds of insects…crickets chirping.  He opened his eyes and sunlight had met his eye like an old dear friend that they had not seen in a long time.  Shinji sat up and rubbed the sand out of his eyes to make sure that he wasn't dreaming and sure enough…he wasn't.  The world was so different, he could feel a cool breeze against his face and exposed arms, which was unusual since it was always so warm back home…

            "Home…" He thought, "Was it home?"

            That was a deep question, because really he always found that he didn't belong anywhere.  Most of his life he had lived with his teachers…since his mother had died and his father abandoned him.  Home was merely a word to him, at least until Misato.  He remembered when he stepped over the threshold of the door to her apartment. 

            "I'm home." He said

            "Welcome home."  Misato had smiled.  She was really the first person who actually did that for him…welcoming him home. 

            As he brought himself back to the reality of his situation he began to ask himself a very important question, "What is this place?"

            He stood upon his feet feeling the dizziness of coming out of sleep, much in the same way as getting out of bed in the morning.  His eyes were still trying to adjust to the brightness of the sun as he looked around.  He brought his hand over his eyes like a visor while his other hand was dusting off his pants of dirt and sand.  Everything around him was so blurred in his panicked state along with his eyes adjusting to the bright sun.  As he looked down upon the ground he was met with a great surprise. 

            Shinji saw Asuka lying down upon the ground.  Yet she was different that the last time she saw him.  Last time he saw her, she was bandaged up and she was still in her plug suit.  Yet, when he looked down at her, she was wearing her school uniform, that blue and white skirt with blouse combination.  She also had those Link plugs on her head that also acted as clips for her hair.  Her bandages were also gone, it was as if between last night and now (Whatever that was, Shinji thought) she had completely healed and was sleeping very peacefully in the grass.  Shinji's eyes had adjusted enough to tell that it was grass underneath his feet.  He took a look around to the horizon and saw that to his left he was at the foot of a great mountain range that spread outward from West to East as far as what Shinji could estimate.  Direction was a hard thing to grasp in this place from his disorientation.  He looked to…the south…as he guessed and saw springs, countless springs that spread out just in the same way as the mountains. 

            He took his hand that acted as his visor away from his forehead and then was greeted by another great surprise.  From out of nowhere a voice came out.

            "Shinji?"  The voice asked

            Shinji on the other hand was just about to leap from fear but was too frozen in it to do anything.  With the adrenaline washing over him he turned around and his eyes went wide with shock, elation, and confusion.  There standing in the grass just a foot away from him….was Misato Katsuragi.   

            Back in the Tokyo of present day at Rei's temple, the Sailor Senshi as well as the Starlights were all enjoying the day as it had passed them by.  Everyone seemed happy, except one.  For one of the Senshi was distracted by something ominous.  It was Rei who was still keeping up with her work of tending to the temple.  Sweeping away leaves from the stone pathway.  As she swept her mind wandered to when she was meditating near that bonfire.  She remembered looking into it and seeing things. 

            She saw a land that she had never seen in any map or picture would ever show.  No place on Earth was like what Rei was seeing, with its vast mountains, lush and thick forests, and towns that weren't as prosperous as the towns of Japan.  Though it wasn't that which drew Rei's attention it was what was ahead…a tower…a large tower that spiraled towards the sky and was black as obsidian. 

As Rei thought about it she was sweeping over by a very old tree.  It was covered with sacred ropes, and blessings tied around its branches. Rei had stopped for a moment as she looked up at the old tree. She looked at it to admire its age in how it had lasted all those years with the metropolis of Tokyo spreading up all around it. By some impulse she reached up to touch it.  And suddenly under the sensitivity of her hands she no longer felt solid mass of the tree bark.  She felt empty space and she was falling into the tree.  By the time she had realized what happened she couldn't bring herself to stop it.  All she could do was scream as she fell into the sacred tree.

"AAAHHHHH!" She screamed on her way into the tree.  Her scream caught the immediate attention of Usagi who was sitting on the steps of the temple with Seiya.

She looked over to the sacred tree and she saw a small glimpse.  She saw the feet and the rest of Rei's kimono as she fell into the tree that was soon followed by her screams.

"REI!" Usagi screamed as she leapt up from the Temple steps and ran across the grounds to the tree.  In extreme circumstances, Usagi was never one to think. She was always the one who acted on her heart as well as her own instincts. She ran to the tree and didn't even think of coaxing it out to see what the tree was. She simply stepped forward into the tree and fell into it with Rei. She didn't scream, she only fell silently in.

"USAGI!" Seiya screamed as he too ran across the grounds to the tree, but unlike Usagi, he was stopped. Taiki reached out and grabbed onto Seiya's arm to prevent him from meeting the same unknown fate as Usagi and Rei.

"Don't." Taiki said with great feeling for his comrade.

"Ami." Yaten asked, "Can you analyze the tree?"

Ami was shocked and stunned by what happened, but she had to keep herself together.

 "I think I can." She answered

She took out her little computer that had the symbol of Mercury on it. She walked over to the tree an analyzed it. She had seen the same readings before, but only once before.

"Everyone." She called, "I think you should have a look at this."

Instantly the Senshi and the Starlights came over and gathered around Ami.

"What is it, Ami?" Seiya asked

"From what my computer is reading," Ami explained. "There's a Trans-dimensional Vortex inside this tree, in other words a tear between two worlds. I've only seen this type of reading once in my life."

"Yes, I remember it." Haruka said, "It was a tear that landed us in a different universe."

"What was there?" Taiki asked

"There were young boys there who piloted great robots called Gundams." Haruka explained, "There was even one boy there who was married to a woman who was....was.....my reflection."

"Meaning what?" Yaten asked

"She was like me in so many ways that it was eerie."

"Does this tear lead to the same place?" Minako asked, "Because I want to see them again!"

"I don't think so." Ami answered, "The readings aren't the same. But that's not important now; the important thing is that we find Usagi and Rei."

"Agreed." Seiya said, "We should follow."

"That is the logical solution that I was going to suggest." Ami said

"Good." Seiya said as he leapt first into the tree.

"Ah." Taiki said with frustration, "Seiya always jumps before he looks."

"Well, let's get going." Ami said all Gung-Ho about the situation

Soon, all the Senshi and the Starlights had plunged into the tree. Even the cats, Luna and Artimis had followed suit. All of them had plunged down into the darkness of the tree. No one had any idea of where they were, or where they were going.  At least until they saw a light.  And instantly the light had consumed all of them.  Instantly they found themselves bathed in sunlight.

But it wasn't like the sun of the city.  It was pure, unbridled sunlight that came down in warm rays while the wind swept across their faces.  All of them were unconscious as to what or where they landed.  That was when all of them had woken up. 

The Sailor Senshi had woken up and had a look around.  They saw that they were in the country.  It was pure country.  There was not a building in sight.  It became quickly apparent that they didn't know where they were nor did they know how to get back home. 

To be continued…


	3. Warriors Call

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 3: The Eastern Group**

**Warrior's Call **

            It is the year, F.C. 87, just one more year until the 20th Gundam Fight; a worldwide Olympic-like fight that occurs every four years to determine who should rule Earth and Space.  Among the fighters for this are the Shuffle Alliance, an elite group that was born out of kinship and of the 13th Gundam fight when the greatest threat humanity ever knew was born:  The Devil Gundam.  It has been nearly 27 years since that time, and all of the Shuffle Alliance has changed.  It is in Neo-France, at the DeSand family mansion, a reunion has been called for all these fighters.   

            Firstly there was the fighter from Neo Japan, and holder of the King of Hearts crest, Domon Kasshu, his wife Rain Mikamura Kasshu with their son, Kyoji Kasshu.  Domon had named the boy after his older brother, who had met his end in the year F.C. 60 when the Devil Gundam was roaming the Earth.  It truly was a sad as well as a joyous time for Domon.  In that same year he had lost so much of his family, his mother, his brother, as well as his old master…Master Asia.  At the same time he also had gained so much…his love and his wife…Rain.

            Kyoji Kasshu was a marvelous boy of the age of fifteen.  He had looks like his father except his hair was shorter and much lighter thanks to the influence from his mother.  He was like his father in that he loved to fight.  So much that there were times when he was younger that both Domon and Rain were called to his school to answer for his behavior.  Still, Kyoji kept saying that it was the other kid who threw the first punch and that he insulted the Kasshu name.  Domon believed him, but Rain being somewhat of a strict mother kept saying to him that he shouldn't fight. 

            Then there was the fighter from Neo American, and holder of the Queen of Spades crest, Chibodee Crocket, his wife Shirley Crocket, and their son Christopher "Champ" Crocket.  It was true that out of all the girls in Chibodee's crew (Shirley, Janet, Cathy, and Bunny) he could only choose Shirley.  Probably because he loved that spirit that she had, that undaunted resolve and spunk…the real dominant type in other words.  Their son, Christopher or Champ as his dad always calls him, was a very strapping lad at his age of fourteen.  He loved his dad so much and was such a chip off the block that Champ had his hair much like his dad's despite what his mother said.  The boy also loved to pick up as well as hit on girls.  He was always like that from the time he was little.  His dad loved to brag that he loved chasing girls so much that when he was an infant he was crawling to the other girls.  This was so much that during junior high school on the Neo America colony liked to call Champ "The Pimp of Neo-America". 

            Next there was the fighter of Neo France, and holder of the King of Diamonds crest, George DeSand, his wife Marie-Louis DeSand, and their daughter Juliet Francoise DeSand.  With the combination of both her mother and her father's sides, her blood was bluer than the Danube itself.  Juliet was raised in all of the finest as well as most prestigious schools in all of Neo France.  By the age she was at, thirteen, she had as much manners and high society types of protocol as her mother and father before her.  Still, she retained certain characteristics that her mother and father had.  Juliet herself had long since wished for a great romance of her own, much like her mother and fathers, or perhaps like the story of Romeo and Juliet (without the terrible end of course).  Some would say that these were only ideas and notions of a silly little girl who had been sheltered too long from the slings and arrows of the world.  Yet, Juliet would say that "It is hope for the good that keeps us going." 

            Then there was the fighter of Neo Russia, Argo Gulski, his wife Nastasha Gulski, and their daughter Natalia Gulski.  It was true that there was some controversy in the past about Argo being a pirate as well as a fighter for Neo Russia.  Though in the 13th Gundam Fight, he didn't exactly have a lot of choice about it, since he was fighting for the safety of his crew…his friends.  After the fight with the Devil Gundam the Neo Japanese government (who had won the Gundam fight that year) spoke to Neo Russia about Argo and thus he was released and freed of charges.  Argo had decided that fighting in the Gundam was really the best thing that he could do.  After all, he had achieved so much in that one year of fighting.  His daughter, Natalia on the other hand was really a tomboy, but a tomboy with looks that could kill; the real combination of both parents; her mothers' looks and her fathers' brawn. 

            The second to last was Sai-Saici, his wife Cecil, along with his Shoalin Masters Zuisen and Keuin, and their son Sai-Saici III, who was twelve years old at the time.  Yet, despite Sai the Third's age, he did look a little younger than what he actually was.  Almost like his father, how during the 13th Gundam Fight Sai-Saici was seventeen at the time yet he looked no more than thirteen.  Plus Sai the Third was quite lighter and very agile; thanks to his very skinny body he could also fit himself into the tightest of places.  There was even one time that Sai the Third had given his parents quite a scare when he was missing at an airport.  As it turned out, Sai the Third was just hiding in one of the carry on bags.  It was mind boggling to see him get himself out, but what really made his father scratch his head was wondering how he got himself in there at all. 

            Last, but certainly not least was Allenby Beardsley and her daughter Amaylee Beardsley.  In the time since the 16th Gundam fight, Allenby could not find a husband with such restrictions imposed on her by the Neo-Sweden government.  She had reached that point in her life where she felt something was missing in her life.  Yet, she didn't have a feeling of it, Allenby knew what it was.  She wanted the love of another man…a man just like Domon.  Someone who could fight her, but no other man like that existed.  At least none that was single.  Along with the need for the love of another man, Allenby felt the desire to start a family.  So, she decided to adopt (since the idea of being pregnant wasn't all that appealing to her) and it was with that that Allenby had picked her daughter.  A baby girl that was just one day old.  She looked at that little infant right away and fell in love with her right away.  She then named the child Amaylee Beardsley and growing up Amaylee experienced life on the ring side.  Yet, there were four years between each Gundam fight, so Allenby did spend quite a lot of time with her daughter.  Though Amaylee didn't like to fight very much, she was more of a romantic, much in the same way as Juliet DeSand.  Though Amaylee was a little more realistic about it, she felt that true love was possible, though most of the time it ends up in heartbreak, divorce, and someone getting hurt.  At least that's what she saw when she looked to her mother who still had that special place in her heart for Domon.  Though Amaylee didn't hate Domon for this, she just kept wondering why things like this happen.  She did learn at a young age that in a competitive environment there is always a looser.  Perhaps that's why she didn't like to fight very much. 

            It was a very warm summer's day in the city of Paris.  At the DeSand family mansion, a taxi was pulling up to the driveway.  The taxi was carrying the last of the reunion party for the Shuffle Alliance, the Kasshu Family.  Inside the taxi, Rain was very jittery as they came to the mansion's gates.  Domon had seen how nervous his wife was and he laid his hand down upon her leg.                

            "Calm down, Rain."  He said in an always calm voice

            "I know that we're late."  Rain shook her head, "That's one thing I don't like to be is late."

            "We're here."  The driver said

            Rain was the first to get out of the car, then their son Kyoji and then Domon who took care of the fee for the taxi.  Then as the car drove away, the three of them came to the gigantic wooden doors of the DeSand mansion.  Seeing the ringer nearby, Domon pressed it, and within a matter of moments the doors creaked open and there stood Raymond, the loyal servant to the DeSand family. 

            "Good afternoon, Mister and Misses Kasshu.  Come in."

            "Are we late?" Rain asked with apprehension hoping against all else that they were on time. 

            "Not very."  Raymond had reported with a smile, "We are still waiting for Miss Allenby.  Come wait in the Library."

            Raymond had escorted Rain, Domon, and Kyoji to the library, which was just like the name had stated.  Though this library was enormous, there were three levels to it with rows and rows of books of all kinds.  God only knew what kinds of old literature the DeSand family had on its shelves, but it wasn't the library that they were interested in.  It was the people that were sipping champagne in waiting for the others to arrive at the mansion.  Domon had immediately connected eyes with those that were waiting.  Chibodee, Argo, Sai-Saici, and George.  They all greeted him with great smiles as well as vocal callings. 

"Domon."  George had called, "Welcome." 

With that, the reunion began.  All that they needed was for Allenby Beardsley to show up and sure enough within only 5 minutes after Domon had arrived, she did along with her daughter Amaylee Beardsley.  So there was a great deal of mingling and laughing and reminiscing of old times.  Back to both the 13th as well as the 16th Gundam fight.  They were talking about how in the 16th Gundam fight they had taken the Preventers under their wing and taught them the ins and outs of the Gundam fight.  There was even one part when they had faced the Devil Gundam again on a small island outside of Neo Hong Kong.  Knowing that their leaders Trieze Kushrinada and Lady Une were both trapped inside the Devil Gundam, one of the pilots actually got out of his suit and went up to it. 

"What was his name anyway?"  Chibodee asked

"Johan."  Domon answered, "Johan Rodriguez."

"Yeah, what a crazy kid he was.  He dashes up to that Devil Gundam and one of us asks what the hell he's doing and he answers, 'My Job'." 

Everyone laughed at this thinking back to how devoted to his work all of the Preventers were as well as what great fighters that they were.  Especially Heero Yuy, the one that Domon had fought in the Battle Royal.  At the time that Domon had fought Heero, he could sense something very different in the way that he fought.  His style and approach to it was much like Sai-Saici, a do or die type of philosophy.  Heero Yuy seemed to display that same thing to Domon, even though he said nothing.  Though Domon could always tell this when he fought someone; for the same thing happen in the 13th Gundam Fight when Domon had fought Allenby.  The first time was at a video arcade when it was just a game.  Yet, when he fought her in the ring, she was over taken by the Neo Sweden berserker system.  Her fists felt cold to him, when that happened he knew that there was no point in fighting her.  This was one reason why Allenby had fallen head over heels for Domon, either that it was the first time that she had lost or that it was his way of thinking that was like hers that she loved. 

Along with all that, some of their children had not heard some of these stories.  Such as Juliet DeSand who had entered into the discussion and had asked in a very adult voice in a thirteen-year-olds voice, "What was this Devil Gundam?"

Neither George nor Marie Louis ever told their daughter about the horrors of the Devil Gundam.  George as well as his wife felt that it wasn't proper to scare their daughter half to death over something that had happened years ago.  Though his friends felt that she was old enough to know the truth about what happened in those days.  So the conversation of the reunion turned dark when they began to tell the story of the Devil Gundam.  How it had the three theoretical principles of Self-replication, self-regeneration, and self-evolution.  All of these principles made the Devil Gundam one of the most formidable machines ever to be devised by man.  It was also told about the painful memories of the trust and betrayals of the Kasshu and Mikamura families.  They tried to stop there but the children wanted to know more.  Some of them knew about the Devil Gundam but they never heard of it in such detail from their families or their families' friends.  At last dinner was saved, quite literally, by the bell or the dinner gong. 

Dinner at the DeSand mansion had gone over with great stories to tell of both their lives as well as the delightful mischief and escapades of their children.  How Kyoji Kasshu had always gotten into fights at school and that his mother and father had to come by and desperately tried to excuse Kyoji's conduct. 

Across the vastness of time and space, in the year A.C. 215, the Preventers were scattered throughout Space and across the Earth keeping the peace for the World Nation.  This was the greatest job that any of them could have, at least that's what one of them thought as he piloted the one man ship between the colonies in his daily patrol.  This officer was Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez, pilot of the Gundam Ryu, and Preventer Codename: Star Dragon. 

Nothing much had happened in Preventer since the last visitors that the office had, which were a group of people from Japan in, what they had called, the 11th year of the Meiji Era.  Johan did look that up and found out that the actual year was 1878 A.D.  He looked out the window of his craft and had begun to make his report:

****

Preventer Report

Officer: Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

Code-name: Star Dragon

Date: June 15, A.C. 216

Report: After a few days of patrol, there is nothing of any significant activity in my patrolling vicinity. 

Johan sat back in the craft thinking back on a great deal of things that have happened in the past.  He thought about his wife, Haruka Tenou Rodriguez who was patrolling her area between the moon and mars.  He then thought about his children, Julia and Leto in how they were starting school at the Sank Kingdom Gabriella Institute along with the other children; William Maxwell, Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, Paul Marquise, as well as the adopted son of Quatre, Kaoru Nagisa.  All of them would be going to school there.  Johan knew that it must be an enormous change for them to start a new school.  Then he thought that they had each other and that they would be able to survive a new school. 

In the near zero gravity of the ship he was piloting, Johan felt his pony tail, which had gotten longer over the years.  Yet, it wasn't as long as his wife's, which came down to her buttocks.  Johan's only came down to the middle of his back.  It was true that he did cut it so that it only touched his neck.  Then he decided to let it go. 

The times in Preventer have been good at Preventer.  Such as the marriage between Id "the Lion" Kushrinada and his love the officer for the Red Sky Police Department on Mars, Birdy Cepheron.  Then under a year later they had a beautiful baby girl that they named Mary Cepheron Kushrinada.  After that, Treize and Lady Une had become grandparents while their daughter Mariemea Kushrinada became her aunt.    

Despite all the good things, there was there was still something that was bothering Johan in the back of his mind.  It had bothered him ever since that time when the Lupin crew had come through the tear.  It wasn't all that long ago, when they came to this universe by means of the Wizard's Glass.  A pink jewel that when Johan had held it, he was pulled into its depths, pulled down, down, into it.  Yet, it was what the jewel had shown him that stuck with him.  He remembered traveling or flying as if he was in a dream, across a land that seemed so alien to him.  Growths of trees that were as expansive as cities, mountains that seemed untouched by human hands, and there at the center of it all was the tower.  A Dark Tower that was a black as obsidian and coal that rose like a sky scraper with turrets like a castle connected to it.  Johan was drawn to that place as if he were a needle in a compass being drawn to the north.  It was there somewhere in the tower where he heard a voice that called out

"Help me." 

Johan couldn't explain it then or at any other time since then that he felt as if he was being prepared. 

"We all are."  He thought, "We're being prepared for something." 

He had that realization from that time that he mulled over what he saw within the pink depths of the Wizard's Glass.  Since then, he always seemed distracted.  He had to bring himself back to reality when he finished his report. 

He suddenly missed a lot of things; his wife Haruka, even though he only saw her a few hours ago on the moon when they were departing for their patrol duties.  He thought about how much longer he would have to stay out there before he could go back to the moon to see his wife again...when something happened. 

He looked in front of him and saw four lights in the same pattern as a compass.  Yet that was only one instant, the next instant was when the lights began to spin round and round, like a cyclone.  Then he saw it...the tear.  It had opened right before his eyes.  It opened up just like it did all those times before.  That same diamond like opening in the middle of nowhere and within its blurred edges, Johan saw it.  He saw a land that was much like the place that he saw within the depths of the Wizard's Glass; a land that was old and untamed, untouched mountains, thick growths of trees, and an unbelievably blue sky. 

Johan reached out and flipped the COM switch, "This is Preventer Star Dragon calling Preventer Office.  Star Dragon calling Preventer Office, come in please." 

The nearest Preventer office was on Colony L-1, and the one stationed there was Lucrezia Noin who answered.

"This is Preventer Office, Colony L-1.   Go ahead Johan." 

"Noin, call all Gundam pilots.  Tell them to get their mobile suits ready.  Prep the Preventer ship Relativity, the tear has opened."

            Of course there were many other great stories about the other children.  Such as how Sai-Saici once found a stack of very explicit magazines underneath his son's bed.  Of course he never said anything to his son, but his mother certainly gave him an earful.  Christopher (Champ) had a very similar experience with his mother.  Though he was grounded for a week for even having them, but Chibodee had actually fished them out of the trash and gave them back to his son.  Of course that was never said out loud at dinner, but Champ and Chibodee knew it.  After all, Chibodee was not only a subscriber, but he was a frequent guest to the Playboy mansion on the Neo-America colony, a recreation of the old mansion all the way down to the infamous "Gratto".  Of course, Chibodee's wife was a little peeved about him going, but Chibodee was never one to turn down an invitation to a party. 

Though Juliet Françoise DeSand was always a bit of a "goody-two-shoes".  Then again, that is what made her, her.  Always the most respected out of all the students at her private school, a model student in a phrase.  As the night progressed on and on suddenly Raymond entered he dinning hall and tapped Domon on the shoulder. 

"Mr. Kasshu."  He asked, "It seems you have a call from a Dr. Kasshu from the Neo Japan colony." 

"My father?"  Domon asked, "What did he say?"

"He simply said that it was of enormous importance."   

Domon got up and left the table while his friends and family continued to discuss life in general as well as some of the mildly interesting stories that they had.  As for Domon, he wondered what his dad would be calling for.  He then thought to himself that it was nearly 2 a.m. on the Neo Japan colony.  Then suspicion set in when he thought about that because what could have awakened him at such a late hour?  He reached the phone and pressed the receive button.  On the screen, Domon saw the old face of his father. 

"Hello, dad."  Domon answered

"Domon, I need you to come to the colony.  I've discovered something incredible."

"What is it, Dad?" 

"I'm not sure what it is.  It seems like a hole in the middle of space.  All sensors trying to detect whatever is in it come back inconclusive.  As far as what I can gather, its a tear in space."

That did it for Domon, as soon as the word was dropped, he uttered only one phrase, "We'll be there." 

He said 'we' meaning that he was going to bring along the rest of the Shuffle Alliance.  The word Tear was something that the Shuffle Alliance had not heard in a very long time.  As they thought of it, it was probably before their children were born.  It was because of the tear and the Devil Gundam that had brought them another set of Gundam pilots, a set of pilots that had called themselves the Preventers.  It seemed ominous to most of them in how they were talking about them and then the doorway that had brought them suddenly opened.

The Shuffle Alliance had arrived at the Neo Japan colony and had spoken with Dr. Kasshu on its location.  Yet, before going to it, Domon spoke with the others about how to approach it. 

"I think we should bring out Gundams."  He told them

"How do you figure, Domon?"  George asked

"I can't explain it now, but I think that we'll need them for something that lies on the other side." 

"I have to agree with Domon."  Chibodee concurred, "There's no telling of what we may find on the other side."

"Who said that we're going through it?"  Sai-Saici asked in protest. 

"I think that we all should."  Domon had explained, "When the Preventers came through they said that their leaders were taken by the Devil Gundam."

"Are you saying that the Devil Gundam has come back again?"  Argo asked

"I'm not saying that it had, this situation feels very different.  That's why I feel that all of us should go through it."  He then brought up his fist and showed one reason why he was feeling this.  The Shuffle Crest of the King of Hearts was burning brightly upon Domon's right hand. 

            As soon as Domon had shown his shuffle crest, the others began to look at theirs and saw how that they were all blazing brightly upon their hands.  With that unifying experience, all of them felt compelled to follow Domon and so hey did.  All of them had made calls to their respective countries and had their Gundams brought to the location of the tear.  Of course they had to speak with their families about staying behind.  Though there was some protest.  Such as from Rain, she said that she wanted to go with Domon, because she was a doctor and that she was his crew.  How could Domon argue with that?  And so Rain was brought along to the tears location.  Though the same thing happened with many of the Shuffle Alliance members.  Argo Gulski brought along Nastasha, Sai-Saici brought Zuisen and Keuin, George had brought his faithful butler Raymond, and Chibodee brought his team.  All of them had brought their Gundam pods to the tear and without even a second thought they all had gone through. 

            The Preventers had gathered at the tear.  All of the Gundams had been brought, including the ones that were made for the Preventers Children, the Gundams Fox (Leto Rodriguez), Falcon (Julia Rodriguez), Shade (William Maxwell), Storm (Paul Marquise), Phoenix (Hikaru Yuy), and Angel (Kaworu Nagisa).  They brought these particular models mostly as back-ups just in case that they would be needed.  All of them were housed inside the Preventer ship Relativity a new model that was constructed for very specific missions, mainly for Mars and Deep Space Missions in which the Fortress Satellite wouldn't be enough to send the Gundams. 

The only ones that were left behind were the mobile suits that belonged to Id the Lion and the Desbats.  For when Lady Une heard the news she was explained to by Johan that a few Preventer officers may have to stay behind and her choices were Id and the Desbats. 

On the bridge of the ship, the captain, Lady Une looked out at it and look upon its vast contrast against space.  It was a bright blue hue much like the day time sky against infinite nothingness. 

"What will come through?"  Lady Une had asked herself, "Or what will we find on the other side?" 

"Lady Une?"  A Preventer Officer asked

Lady Une turned and saw how young the boy was.  Looking at him, she was in pain in the back of her mind thinking about the death of Id Kushrinada.  She kept thinking that she had missed out on his whole life and had only 15 years to make it up to him.  What was 15 years compared to an entire lifetime?  Even worse was the loss of her daughter in law, Birdy.  She seemed so promising to Id. 

"Yes?"  Lady Une asked the young officer

"All Preventer Gundams are aboard and we are ready to enter."

"Good."  Lady Une nodded, "Set course for the tear, all ahead slow."

"Aye."  The Officer said as the task was done and the Preventer ship Relativity had passed through the tear. 

To be continued…


	4. Thieves and Outlaws

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 4: The Southern Group**

**Thieves and Outlaws **

In the Penthouse Suite of a luxurious hotel/casino in Paris France, Fujiko Mine was showering in the very spacious bathroom after the theft of a large sum of money from three casinos in Monte Carlo.  While Jigen was playing darts while lying back in a recliner, Lupin was having a nice glass of beer at the bar, and of course Goemon was sitting on the couch, cross-legged, with his sword always at his side.  
            They hear the running water of the shower, and Lupin having a little bit of alcohol in his system decides to have a peek. He tip toes his way to the bathroom and tries to be very quiet about it. Yet, something is very different about this, this time. There was something in the air that was very, very different. But Lupin didn't care; his libido took over his common sense…as it always did...and so he carefully opened the door to the bathroom, feeling the steam pass him.  

He saw Fujiko's gorgeous figure there standing in the running water through the frosty glass of the shower door. He was in heaven as he continued to watch her silhouette. His heart raced as the libido flowed through his body in ecstasy. Of course all good things had to come to an end when the situation changed.  As Lupin continued to watch Fujiko in the shower he watched as something happened to her. Her silhouette fell. It fell downward as if there was a trapdoor in that shower, like the kinds that are used in farce theatre comedies as well as magic shows.  She fell through the bottom of the shower screaming.

Lupin's heart took a leap into his chest as he watch the woman that he lusted for fall in a way he never thought possible.  The scream was so loud, that even the gunman Jigen and the swordsman Goemon came rushing in.

"What the hell just happened?" Jigen asked

"I don't know." Lupin answered grimly as he went to the shower door and opened it.  His first instinct told him to look down and there he saw it. A square opening in the floor of the shower that led into nothingness…only darkness was there.  In all the times that Lupin had had his run-in's with things that were strange, this was the strangest of them all.  Something else seemed to take over Lupin...a feeling of preparedness, or a need to be prepared.  He went over to the elaborate sink of the bathroom where Fujiko's favorite dress, as well as her undergarments and weapon of choice lay.  It was her bright pink dress, with the U-cut neck, that hugged her figure when she wore it, as well as the thigh holster for her gun.  Lupin gathered all of them up into his arms.

"Now what are you doing?" Jigen asked

"I have a feeling that we need to follow her." Lupin answered

His answer was strange, unlike anything he had ever done in his whole criminal career.  As if Lupin had seen the future and the things that were held within it.  And he knew that wherever Fujiko was, she was wet and naked. Lupin being a self-proclaimed gentleman knew that he had to bring Fujiko her clothes.  Thinking about how wet she would be Lupin also took a towel from the hotels rack.  He went to the shower and looked down into it.  He closed his eyes, holding onto Fujiko's belongings, and jumped down into the hole.  The one's left behind, Jigen and Goemon looked at each other.  Though the two had worked together quite a lot, they knew that the bond they had was Lupin himself.

So, Jigen went first.  He held onto his hat and went down into the hole.

Goemon always the confident one just went head first as if he was diving off of a high board.  All four of them had fallen into the darkness within the shower.  None of them could understand why this was happening.  At least that's what only three of them thought.  But, it wasn't too long until that all three of them had seen a light, much like the light that was spoken about from people who had experienced death.  A few of them had wondered if they had died by falling into the hole.  Thinking about death was terrible to them. Even Fujiko and Lupin.  That was when the light had consumed them.  It grew over them just like diving into a pool of water.  The light had overtaken them and that was when they felt solid ground.

            In the Toward Star System, a red ship was making its way across the galaxy to make its delivery.  This red starship was a part of a very special class of ships called "grappler ships", duly named for the set of hands and arms that are built into their design.  It is that which made this particular red ship its uniqueness, built with the brains of the pirates and the resources of the space forces.  This ship was named the Outlaw Star (at least that's what its captain called it, when its development name was XGP-15A2) and its captain was an outlaw named Gene Starwind or Lucky Star Gene as he has been called, mostly because of his enormous luck to get out of the direst of situations.  There were rumors that had spread that Gene had gone up against the most ruthless of the Kei Pirates called "the Anten Seven"…and won, but he didn't do it alone.  He had help.

            The first mate of the Outlaw Star was a young boy by the name Jim Hawking (thus the name of his and Gene's company, _Starwind__ and Hawking Enterprises_, their slogan that they can fix anything from tractors to relationships).  Of course, since Gene was such a care-free individual, Jim was his anchor to bring him back to the reality of life, so he's his partner.  But what that really means is that Jim tries to keep Gene out of as much trouble as he inflicts. 

            Next was the ships navigator, a young beautiful woman named Melphina, the only person who could even navigate the Outlaw Star.  The reason for this was because Melphina was a bio-android, specifically created to navigate the Outlaw Star.  Despite this, Melphina was her own person. 

            Then there were the other crew members of the Outlaw Star.  First there was a woman who was a great swordsman with a bokudo (a sword made of wood).  Before meeting Gene Starwind, she was a deadly assassin who went by the name of Twilight Sazuka.  She was named this because she always had the style of killing her targets directly at sunset.  Of course if she missed it, which rarely happens, the target would have one full day before the next sunset.  This very thing happened to her when she met Gene Starwind.  She was to kill one of Gene's Investors, a broker named Fred Lowe.  Since it was Gene that made Sazuka miss the target, she has since followed Gene, perhaps it was an interest she had in him, or just curiosity of how he made such a deadly assassin miss the mark. 

            Next was a Ktarl-Ktarl named Asia Clan-Clan, her race were a people who were said to be very cat-like or to be more specific a tiger.  After all, Asia really was an animal when it came to certain things.  Such as food, she has been known to eat a meal intended for at least eight people in one sitting.  She also had unique lycanthrope abilities, meaning that she could change into a great white tiger when the moon was full.  She had met Gene on an accidental meeting between her race and the outlaw named Hilda (or Hot Ice Hilda), who was the one that brought the Outlaw Star to Gene. 

            Last of all was the actual ship, the computer of the Outlaw Star named Gilliam 2, who would see most of the Outlaw Star's operations, and his main facet of his speaking voice was a circle above the cockpit chair.  It was divided into three sections, red, gold, and blue.  The red section would bounce up and down with his voice like a speedometer.

            "Gene" He called. "We are approaching Heyfong."

            "Good" Gene said coming out of his relaxed position of having his hands behind his head, "I was starting to get bored."

            He wasn't the only one.  He wasn't the only one.  Asia Clan-Clan, was sitting in her chair just sleeping with her hands and feet tucked in just like a cat. 

Though Sazuka was only dealing with the boredom by sipping back green tea.

Ironically enough the cargo that they were transporting was actually a few packages for Fred Lowe, the very an that Gene had gotten into some serious debt a while back. Though miraculously, he did find a way to get out of it quite quickly.  It was by capturing the bounty of the Kei Pirate named Hotana, who had made a gate into a different universe.  In that Universe Gene Starwind and his crew had encountered a very special group of people called the Preventers.  It was thanks to them and the capture of Hotana that Gene Starwing had achieved his nick name "Lucky Star Gene", and his crew "The Outlaw Six".  Bringing Hotana back, they got a bounty so huge that they paid back all the debts that they had to Fred Lowe and had lived quite comfortably.  Though with repairs to the ship and all a lot of the money went away quite quickly.

Visiting Fred Lowe was a little like visiting a grandmother that Gene didn't like very much.  Mostly because Fred was a little…too friendly…feminine would be a better word in his case.  After all, Fred always did get pretty "chummy" around Gene, hugging him a lot as well as smiling as if he had never been happier.  Of course, Gene had his suspicions about Fred, but like the overly kind grandmother, Gene knew that he had to get out and fast.

"Bye-bye Gene."  Fred said as Gene walked out of his office, "Come again soon."

"Sure."  Gene said feigning his sincerity. 

Going back to Sentinel 3, Gene thought to himself that putting up with Fred's extreme kindness was worth it…especially with the 10,000 Wong that was paid for transporting the cargo; even though Gene never looked in the crate.

He set the ship on autopilot for Sentinel 3 as he laid back and rested.  He didn't dream because he was awakened sharply by the sound of Gilliam's and Jim's voice. 

"Gene!"  They called, "Gene!  Wake up!"

Gene opened his eyes trying to block out the bright lights of the cockpit and rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

"Are we already there?"  He asked groggily, "That was longer than I thought."

"That's not it, Gene."  Gilliam answered, "There seems to be something up ahead."

Gene looked ahead, and his eyes were already drawn to a bright object that was dead ahead.  It was a diamond shaped object floating in space.  Inside it, Gene could see blue, like the blue skies over Sentinel 3 as well as clouds as if it was a window on an airplane.  Gene's eyes then made a quick look around and noticed that the Outlaw Star had stopped completely.  It seemed as if his entire crew were like travelers at the gates of an unknown city. 

"What the hell is it?"  Gene asked

"From what my memories tell me, it is exactly the same type of space-time hole as we encountered when we faced the Kei Pirate Hotana."

"A space-time hole?"  Jim asked, "You mean like a wormhole?"

"Yes, but unlike that incident with the pirate, this hole seems to be appearing with no external force.  My sensors can't pick up anything beyond it."

Gene suddenly felt a wash of certainty over him, like going to someplace unknown and having the feeling of making a left instead of a right.  Never really knowing that place very well, only knowing by maybe intuition or pure luck that it would be the right turn. 

"Gilliam" Gene ordered, "Set course for the hole, we're going in."

"_Are you crazy!?"_  Jim screamed, "We have no idea what's in there!  For all we know it could be a dimension of pure chaos!"

"Calm down, Jim."  Gene said with a smile.  He always seemed to smile whenever the situation was its direst.  Like a man who treats the Grim Reaper as a favorite relative and simply smiles when he visits.  "I have a pretty good feeling that we'll be alright." 

"I have to agree with Jim."  Sazuka spoke out, "This thing just came out of nowhere and now we're supposed to go through it like invited guests?"

Asia Clan-Clan jumped out of her seat and wrapped her arms around Sazuka's neck, "You're still just such a worry wart Su-zu."

"Please, don't call me that, Asia."  Sazuka uttered in her vigilant protest. 

"I say we go through it, it appeals so much to a Ktarl-Ktarl's sense of adventure!"

"Now you're talkin'!"  Gene agreed

"What about you, Melphina?" Jim asked

Melphina who was floating suspended in the navigator's tank spoke her own opinion, "I feel the same way as Gene.  I can't exactly explain it, but I feel like we have to go through it.  After all, I don't think its coincidence that it opened randomly."

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."  Gene agreed, "It's like someone is opening the door to us like guests or something."  

"Fine, but I still say that there's something not right about this."  Jim sat back and accepted the inevitable; then again he always went off of the facts of the situation.  One would say that he was the kind of person who was all-brain and no-heart. 

"Very well then."  Gilliam stated, "Setting course." 

Gene took the controls and passed through the tear, leaving behind the familiar universe of the Toward Star System. 

All of the Lupin Crew had felt as if they had taken a plunge out of the hotel room and fell onto the hard ground, each of them feeling the prickly sensation against their exposed parts.  At first they were trying to recover from what happened.  Then their eyes had adjusted to the new light.  The first to stand up was Lupin.  He looked up and around him, and found that he was in the middle of the country. But what country?  He didn't know.  He had been over nearly every square inch of the world and never had he seen a place like it.  There were rolling grasslands all around him.

He looked to the sun which was already going into late afternoon in the west.  And in the west he saw an enormous forest that stretched for miles from north to south.  To the east, he saw a mountain range that extended northward, like the back of a great demon upon the land.  He looked underneath him and he was standing in the grassland.  That was when he remembered Fujiko.  He looked around and found her belongings, her clothes, her undergarments (which he smiled greedily as he picked them up), her gun and holster.

He then looked around closer to him.  There he found Jigen lying down on his stomach.  Next to him was Goemon who had fallen onto his back.  Then just to Lupin's right towards the direction of the mountains he saw Fujiko.  She was lying in the grasslands, naked, and wet...just as much as he expected.  A smile stretched across his face as he looked at her.  But then the smile vanished when he saw how helpless she was lying there in the middle of pure grass.  He went to her with her belongings in his hands, as well as the towel that he picked up.

"Fujiko." He called

"Fujiko?"

Fujiko flinched and then awakened. Her beautiful blue eyes underneath her wet brunet hair looked up at Lupin.

"There you go."  Lupin said.

That was when the reality of the situation hit Fujiko, she was naked!  She quickly rolled up into a ball and tried to cover herself up from the perverted Lupin.  She wanted to slap him so hard, but she couldn't for the state she was in. So she could only yell.

"You pervert!" She screamed, it echoed across the land, "How dare you drag me out here and see me like this!"

"It's not my fault, Fujiko." Lupin tried to explain in a gentle voice, "You fell through a hole in the shower."

"A hole?" Fujiko asked

"Yeah" Lupin nodded, "So we followed you. Here I have your clothes as well as a towel."

Fujiko brought her hands together and to her face, "My hero." She cooed.

That was when Lupin ruined the moment by being himself, his face smiled and Fujiko realized her breasts were exposed so she quickly covered herself back up again.

"PERVERT!" She screamed

"Here." Lupin said very sultry. He looked up to the sky as Fujiko grabbed her towel as well as her clothes.  Lupin tried not to ruin everything else, so he turned around and squatted with a very disappointed look on his face.  Everything about the land he was in was so peculiar.  The sky seemed to be a deeper blue than anything he had ever seen.  It wasn't clouded by anything. The only clouds were the natural ones that rolled across it.

"Hey, where in the hell are we?" Jigen asked as he got up, brushing the dirt off of his suit.

Goemon got up and dusted himself off and looked at the landscape, "That is a very apt question." he said.

"That doesn't exactly give me an answer." Jigen replied  
"Hey, I don't know where we are either." Lupin joined in

"You know it's her fault." Jigen pointed his finger at Fujiko who had just gotten her dress on and was getting her gun holster

"My fault?" She asked

"Yeah, you were the one in the shower." Jigen spat

"Hey, it's not my fault that something opened up under me!" Fujiko spat back getting her gun holster on

"ENOUGH!" Lupin shouted so loud that it echoed even further across the land.  "Look, we're in this very strange place. It's no one's fault that we got here. The only thing we can do now is try to figure out as much as we can."

"He is right." Goemon nodded, "We can't point fingers at each other otherwise we'll be in worse off shape then we were before."

"Ok." Jigen calmed down with still a little fire under his collar, "What do you suggest we do."

Lupin couldn't figure out an answer to that question.  He looked around in all four directions.  To the south were the forests as well as to the West, and the mountains of the East met each other like two great hands coming together for a handshake. 

He then looked North, where the path was very clear before him.

"Let's go that way." He said

"Why that way?" Fujiko asked

"I don't know." Lupin answered, "It just looks better."

He couldn't tell anyone the truth.  That he was feeling a very odd pull to the north. As if someone was calling him or rather pulling him there.  He walked across the grasslands to the North while Jigen, Goemon and Fujiko (who was struggling to get her high heels on) followed.  One thing Fujiko had to remind herself to use boots in terrain like this.  It seemed like hours and hours until Lupin and his crew came to a river.  It too was like the rest of the landscape.  It was larger and so much clearer than any river on Earth.  That was when it occurred to all of them what was so different about this world.  Everything was so much clearer, so much brighter than anything.  Even though they would never admit it in the future, they were actually enjoying the scenery.  Lupin looked to the west and saw the sun was starting to roll over the forest of the west.As he looked to the west, he saw a bridge there. He dashed along side of the river, with his crew following him.

Though, Fujiko had to take off her high heels as she learned that running in high heels is never, ever the best thing to do.  As they came to the bridge, only Jigen and Fujiko were a little out of breath, they looked to the stone made bridge and a sign near it.  Lupin read it out loud.

"River Midas.

Derry: 30 Miles"

"Derry?" Jigen asked, "I've never heard of such a place."

"Neither have I." Lupin agreed, "But it's the best change we got of finding a place to stay. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko said in unison.

The four of them continued their trek across the grassy plains of this strange land.

            "Gene!"  Gilliam shouted, "My sensors are detecting a massive gravitational pull from below!"

            Gene and the crew of the Outlaw Star watched through the windows as the scenery changed from the landscape of clouds and blue sky change.  It all went downward as if they were making a nose dive.  They also felt the push upward like the very first drop of a roller coaster that shoves everyone in the cart back against their seat.  As they all felt the tumbling and downward spiral, Gene grabbed the controls. 

            "What's going on!?"

            "It's as if we've come into a planetary atmosphere!"  Melphina shouted as she tried to remain composed in the navigation tank. 

            "Then I'll land!"  Gene shouted as he took the controls and made the same standard procedures in making a landing.  As he did he never felt such a rush to hurry since the first time he landed the Outlaw Star on Sentinel 3 on the very day he received it.  He deployed the landing gear and made the adjustments for the Outlaw Star to tip upward.  He knew that all he could do was hold onto the controls and pray to God that they don't crash. 

            He looked out the windows and saw that they were coming out of the clouds, but since the Outlaw Star was already turned upward they couldn't see what exactly or where exactly they were landing.  So that much in itself was also in God's hands.  As he looked to see the clouds getting further and further away from the cockpit windows there was a great crash.  Gene, Jim, Asia, and Sazuka were all thrown about in the cockpit cabin like loose toys in some kids' lunchbox.  Some of them actually hitting their heads on the steel inner walls and all was black and quiet.

            The first to awaken was Asia, of course she was always the strongest one of the group, but then again she was also the most hard-headed one as well.  She got up and straightened herself off as is she had landed in the dirt.  She looked around the cabin and saw that the lights were still on, she concluded that there was still power.  She looked around for the others.

            The first one she found was just a foot away from her, it was Jim.

            "Hey, wake up."  She said gently hoping that he wasn't dead

            Jim opened his eyes and sat up, "Oh, damn it."  He uttered, "What the hell happened?"

            "I have no idea."  Gene's voice came out as he too stood up from where he was at, and shortly Sazuka followed. 

            "Melphina.  Are you alright?"  Gene asked as he looked into the Navigation tank to see Melhpina's eyes were closed

            Melphina had awakened inside the tank, "I'm alright."  Then the navigation tank sunk into the floor and out came a fully clothed Melhpina who wanted to assess the situation just as much as everyone else on the bridge.

            "Gilliam."  Gene called, "Can you give a damage report?"

            "Certainly, Gene."  Gilliam said, "It appears that the landing gear has been severely damaged.  Everything else is nominal." 

            "Hmm."  Gene cupped his chin, "If the landing gear is damaged then that means that we can't take off.  Gilliam, can you tell us about the outside?"

            "Yes.  From what my sensors are telling me, the atmosphere is oxygen-rich much like any habitable planet.  My long-range sensors are also detecting settlements."

            "How far and in what direction?"

            "Approximately, 60 kilometers northeast."

            "_60 kilometers!?"_  Jim screamed, "Oh man!  Why does this always happen to us!?"

            "Calm down, kid."  Asia tried to comfort the boy, "At least there are settlements instead of none."

            "She's right, Jim."  Gene backed up the Ktarl-ktarl, "In that case, we're going to have to prepare for a very long hike." 

            Everyone made the preparations that were needed, but of course they could only take what they could carry.  So therefore it wasn't very much, just some food packs, and some camping equipment.  Though, never wanting to loose contact with the ship, Jim had brought along one of the Gilliam pods.  These were little cylinder-like objects with eyes that had little arms that came out of them.  Yet, Jim had only chosen one, his favorite one.  It was the one that he colored bubble-gum pink.  Of course, Gilliam did protest to the color change of that particular one, but after a while it did grow on him.  These pods had a com-link with the Outlaw Star itself and Jim felt that he should take Gilliam along with him on this unknown trip. 

Then came the time to see what it was like on the outside, they came to the door that would normally be used when docked either in space or at a spaceport.  With a nervous hand, Gene reached out and pressed the button as it opened to the outside.  As it did, a gust of cool air came over them as they stepped outside.

They saw that they had landed in a forest.  A forest with such thick growth that it was unlike any other planet that they had been to.  Each tree trunk was thick from their great age as well as covered with moss all the way up their branches and their leaves thick and green.  Every one of them had felt as if they had landed on a primordial world where civilized hands had never touched this place.

In awe of everything that they were seeing, Gene only said one thing before making the first step:

"Let's get going."       

To be continued…


	5. Desert and Forest

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 5: The Western Group**

**Desert and ****Forest******

            Vash, Wolfood, Millie, Meryl, and Knives stood there in the desert.  The sand was reaching their ankles.  It wasn't like the deserts of their own world which were only rocky with a small bit of sand here and there.  Yet, it was nothing like what they were seeing all around them, just dunes and dunes of sand in each direction that they looked.  At least as far as their sight would allow. 

            "Reminds you of how things were, right Vash?"  Knives asked

            "Don't remind me, it was too hot back then."  Vash answered but then he went on to say, "I think we should get going, there's no point in us just standing here." 

            "No argument from me."  Wolfwood said as he threw his Cross-Punisher over his shoulder and made his trek up the sandy slope, his feet sinking deeply into the sand as he made the trip.  Soon, Vash and the others followed behind him. 

            The five of them walked and walked to the north.  Their only method of telling time was by looking up at the sun which slowly made its progression across the sky like a snail worming its way across a garden. 

            At least until Vash stopped dead in his tracks.  He was starting to feel something beneath him, very similar to that felling of standing on top of a fragile roof as if at any moment the support beneath him would collapse.   

            Meryl came up behind him, "What's wrong Vash?"  She asked.

            "Do you feel that?"  He asked

            Meryl tried to assess what he meant, "Feel what?" 

            "Shhh."  Vash commanded as the others stopped dead in their tracks as well and gathered around the peace-loving gunman.

            At first the feeling that they all experienced was a simple rumbling, like thunder, yes they experienced thunder, lightning and rain in the days after the blocks had been installed.  Then the rumbling turned violent as the ground shook.  It shook so hard and so rough that several of them were starting to loose their balance on the soft sand.  Could it have been an Earthquake?  No, somehow it felt as if it was coming in one solid stream from a certain direction. 

            As Vash was starting to assess this situation, a memory struck him.  It was back on Gunsmoke back before the arrival of the blocks that made their world such a habitable place.  It was back when the Gung-Ho Guns were still around, still chasing after Vash the Stampede, each for their own unique reasons as well as by the orders of Vash's brother, Knives.  It was when Vash encountered a Gung-Ho Gun named Zazie the Beast.  A gunman who had the form of a child…such a sinister thing that Knives had did.  The reason why this Gung-Ho gun was called Zazie the Beast was because he could control certain animals.  More specifically, worms.  Great worms that inhabited Gunsmoke, that tunneled their way through the earth…natures' burrowers.  Yet, the feeling that those worms gave off when they were coming to the surface…was just like what Vash was feeling underneath the soft sand. 

            Just like a whale breeching through the surface of the water, so too did something enormous breech through the surface of the sand, sending up clouds of dust.  All of the Peace Guns looked up in amazement as something singular reached up to the sky from the sand.  At first it looked like a great pillar, until in the desert sun they saw its texture was rough and brown like the hide of some sort of animal. 

            At the top of the pillar that had burst from the sand, they saw it open, like a mouth.  A mouth that had split in three different ways and as it opened a great roar came from within it.  A roar unlike any of their ears had ever or would ever hear again.  The very sound of it made them cover their ears involuntarily like closing both eyes when someone's fist was coming straight at them.  Even that wasn't enough to completely block it all out; they could even feel it through their bodies as if they were one large sound receiver. 

            Vash the Stampede looked up and saw the great thing bend downward and he saw inside the mouth.  It was like looking down a deep hole and in that mouth Vash saw only darkness and teeth, rows and rows of them.  Knives had always said that when a human being senses a creature of greater strength, power, or intelligence above them they immediately revert to their primal state of pure instinct.  Vash certainly felt that. 

            "RUN!"  He screamed as loud as his lungs would allow, "EVERYBODY RUN!"

            No one questioned why, they simply ran on pure instinct and ran.  They ran as hard as they could as the great thing that burst from the sand sunk back down below.  Everyone in the group had the same thought that it was going to come after them.  The fear was confirmed when they felt the earthquake like sensation underneath their feet as the thing was coming closer and closer.  As they ran, none of them looked back to the thing that was approaching from below.  Just like children running away from a monster in their dreams. 

            "VASH!"  Someone screamed from behind.  Vash looked back and saw that Meryl had fallen.  In his super-human speed he dashed backward to where she was.

            To Meryl it looked like Vash had become a red blur as she was swept off of the desert sand and back with the group.  Yet, the thing that was burrowing underneath the soft sand was still drawing closer.  It was still much like that monster in their dreams, the one that seemed to be getting closer no matter how much that they ran from it. 

            "VASH!"  Wolfwood shouted, "KEEP RUNNING!"

            Vash watched as Wolfwood stopped and activated the missile launcher section of his Cross-Punisher.  He had the sight out and his finger on the trigger and awaited for the thing to make it's breech through the sand.  He had heard stories from when he visited the After Colony Universe of great hunters who used to travel across enormous bodies of water hunting the great creatures who lived beneath the waves.  For a moment, Wolfwood felt like one of those hunters, ready to kill whatever this creature was that was lurking under the sand.             

            Vash couldn't stop himself running, but he knew what his best friend was going to do, "WOLFWOOD!"  He called out

            "NO DON'T!"  Millie screamed as she stopped running and headed back to where Wolfwood was going to make his stand.  In her effort to run back to where her love was standing in the sand she tripped and fell face first.  It all happened in such an instant that she only saw a cloud of dust when she brought her face up from the sand.

            What had happened was Wolfwood was waiting for that great thing to come through the sand. 

            "Come on, you son of a bitch."  He muttered to himself as he felt the sand underneath him begin to move like quicksand.  "That's it."  He said with a grin on his face as the sand below him burst underneath his feet which sent him straight up into the air like a rock from a catapult.  He looked down and saw the worms mouth that split into three sections to reveal its insides that were lined with teeth.  He brought down his Cross-Punisher and set his sights for the inside as he heard and felt the roar of the creature going through him.  His sights were set as he felt himself begin to fall downward into the creatures mouth.

            "TIME TO DIE ASSHOLE!"  He screamed as he pulled the trigger.

            Millie, Meryl, Vash, and Knives all heard Wolfwood's last cry as the worm had swallowed him and it burrowed back down to the sand.

            "NOOOOOO!"  Millie screamed as she began to cry fiercely not caring if the worm would come for her.  As she cried for her lost love, there was an explosion, one so loud and powerful that it erupted to the surface of the sand sending up bits and pieces that used to be part of that great creature that burrowed through the sand.  Along with those body parts came the priest Wolfwood.  He flew out from the sand and onto his back, just a few feet away from Millie.

            She cried again, but this time with joy and worry as she dashed with her stun-gun banging against her side.  She ran immediately getting back up when she tripped to her lovers side.  She checked to see if she was breathing…to her surprise he wasn't just breathing, but he was laughing.

            "WOW!"  He screamed as he sat back upright, "I thought I bit the bullet back there."

            Millie raised her hand and slapped Wolfwood across the face, "Don't you ever scare me like that, Nicholas!"  She cried fiercely again as she threw her arms around him, "I thought that you died again and I couldn't bear to see you die again!  Never again!"  She brought her face up to his and kissed him as if it would be her last.  Wolfwood on the other hand simply laid back and accepted what was happening.  In the situation he was in he knew that something had to be done.      

            As Vash, Meryl, and Knives came up to them slowly knowing that the threat of that worm was over.  They did breathe a slight sigh of relief but the possibility of more was still very clear in their minds. 

            "You gave us all quite the scare Wolfwood."  Vash stated

            Wolfwood broke Millie's kiss, "I know, but I had to do something."

            "Vash."  Meryl tapped Vash's shoulder as she looked across the desert to a nearby dune as a man came up its slopes and came closer to the Peace Guns.  They assumed it was a man since they saw the stubbles of a beard on his exposed face from under the hood of his dirty sand coarse cloak.  He then came within range of the Peace Guns who then were going for their guns if this man was a threat.  They watched as he pulled back his hood and they saw that he was a very handsome man with long blondish hair.  Yet, it was his eyes that caught their attention the most.  In the bright sun they seemed to glow, they glowed blue.  Both the iris' and the cornea's burned brightly with this hue like twin flashlights buried in this man's skull. 

            "Subakh Un Nar" he said to them with a smile on his face

            The Peace Guns all looked at each other hoping that someone in the group would understand what exactly the man had said. 

            "I'm terribly sorry."  The man apologized, "You see that's a Fremen greeting.  It means 'are you well?'"

            Wolfwood got back to his feet, "Considering what we've been though, I'd say we sure as hell have seen better days."

            "As I've witnessed."  The desert dweller had referred to the bits of the worm, "I have to say sir, that you are either very brave or a very stupid man to attempt what you did.  You truly have faced your fear and allowed it to pass through you."

            The desert dweller had walked over to one of the pieces of the exploded worm and came back to Wolfwood with the piece of the carcass in his hand.  He showed it to Wolfwood who saw a great tooth sticking out of it. 

            "We shall make this into a crysknife for you."  He said as if he was a proud father addressing his son.

            "Excuse me."  Meryl came forward to the desert dweller, "But could you tell us who you are and what this place is?"

            "You mean you don't know what this place is?"  The desert dweller asked

            "Yes."  Meryl answered in frustration

            "Hmm."  He looked at all of the Peace Guns, "Then it's true what my people have heard."

            "What do you mean?"  Meryl asked

            "I think all of you should come with me.  We'll talk and plan.  It is not safe for you to be out here more of the worms will be coming if you stay out here."

            "Could you at least tell us your name?"  Vash asked

            "My name is Paul Muad'Dib, now come I'm sure we'll reach home before sundown." 

            It had been only a few hours when Kenshin and his friends had left the Kamiya-Kasshin dojo.  They had left their own familiar world and entered a place that was very different than anything that they had ever seen.  They were in a forest, a very thick and dense forest.  The trees were as high as buildings, their trunks as big around as the banks of a river, and their roots worming up, down, in and out of the ground like snakes.  The leaves were so thick that only beams of sunlight were coming through.  All around them they heard the sounds of insects and other creatures that they were unfamiliar with.  The undergrowth was so thick to them that Kenshin had to draw that beam saber out in order to cut them down. 

            "This place is immense."  Kaoru observed, "It just seems to go on forever."

            "How can you say that, Little Missy?"  Sano asked, "We've only been walking for an hour or so."

            "Or you're one to talk; Kenshin's been doing most of the cutting." 

            "Please, let's not argue."  Kenshin pleaded, "I'm sure that we'll find someone or something that'll give us directions."

            Kenshin had hacked away the last branch and with that last branch coming out of the way, there was a beaten down path.  He looked left and then right seeing how the grass was worn away by either tracks of some kind of carriage or by the foot of men.  As he came out onto the trail he looked to the other side of the road where there was a road sign.

            "Everyone."  He called to the others, "I think I've found something."

            Kaoru, Sano, and Yahiko came out of the thick woods and onto the clear path to where Kenshin stood looking at the wooden road sign.  It looked as though it had been there for decades with the moss growing fat on it.  Yet, there was something very unusual about it.  The sign had several different languages on it, most of them Kenshin and the others couldn't read except for one.  It was down on the very bottom near the ground where there were two arrows pointing outward from the central post.  One pointing to the Kenshin Gumi's left and the other to the right; the one pointing leftward on the path read in Kanji, "Mt. Lonely" and the one pointing to the right read, "River Sting." 

            "Well, Kenshin."  Sano said scratching his head, "Where do we go from here?"

            "I think we head towards the River Sting, that I do."  Kenshin answered

            "What makes you so sure?" Kaoru asked 

            "I truly don't know."

            Kenshin simply walked in the direction that the sign post had said would lead them to the River Sting and the others followed suit.  Up ahead, the road was making a sharp turn where the road seemed to vanish into the growth of trees and hills.  Yet, Kenshin still stuck to the beaten down path, because anything was better than hacking through the trees all day long. 

            CAW!

            A bird cawed out in a way that Kenshin had never heard any bird call out before and his head turned in the direction where the sound was coming.  It brought his attention away from the very thing that was blocking his path and it was that thing that called out to Kenshin.

            "HAULT!" 

            Kenshin and the others froze dead in their tracks as they looked up to find a hideous abomination that their eyes had ever seen.  It was a man, and another man, and another.  Three heads of men, but they were all stuck onto one enormously wide body.  They were dressed in armor that the Kenshin Gumi had never seen before.  Chain mails covering their heads as if they were hoods of a coat, as well as gauntlets made of leather on both hands, and a great white tunic covering the body chain mail.  Upon the white tunic were yellow and white stripes that ran from the three-headed-man's left side in a diagonal pattern down to their right side.  Upon the giant's chest were three symbolic hands going in the same direction of the stripes.  Each hand looked as if they were trying to stop whoever was in front of them.  At the giant's sides were an enourmous shield with those same three stopping hands upon it, as well as a jousting stick, and a great double edged sword.      

            "WHO ART THOU?"  The three headed knight demanded all three heads asking at the same time and their voices sounding so great that they seemed to echo through the forest. 

            "Um..."  Kenshin tried to answer but he was stunned by what he was witnessing that he almost failed to grasp his old language, "We're just travelers, that we are.  Just passing through these woods." 

            "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"  All three heads of the knight asked once again

            "Nothing."  Kenshin answered trying to remain calm in the face of the completely bizarre, "Just passing through."

            "I'M AFRAID NOT."

            "Let me introduce myself then.  My name is Kenshin Himura."

            "YOU'RE KENSHIN HIMURA?" All three heads asked

            "I am."  Kenshin answered

            "IN THAT CASE, I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU."  The right head said so casually as if he was giving the samurai directions. 

            "SHALL I?"  The middle head asked

            "I DON'T THINK SO."  The left head objected

            "WELL WHAT DO I THINK?"  The middle head asked hoping that the others would agree with him 

            "I THINK KILL IT!"  The right head answered

            "OH LET'S BE NICE TO HIM."  The left head said in sarcasm

            "OH SHUT UP!"  The right head demanded

            Kenshin and the others were looking at each other frankly bewildered by all this.  First coming to a forest thicker than any in Japan and then to confront a three headed warrior whose heads were arguing amongst themselves like bad siblings.

            "OH, QUICK GET THE SWORD OUT I WANT TO CUT HIS HEAD OFF!"  The right head demanded hoping to get some more bloodshed out of one day.

            "OH CUT YOUR OWN HEAD OFF!"  The left head moaned

            "YES, DO US ALL A FAVOR." The middle head agreed

            "WHY, CAUSE HE'S YAPPIN' ON ALL THE TIME?"  The left head asked

            "YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE NOT NEXT TO HIM."  The middle head stated

            "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" The left head asked

            The middle head leaned over to the left head and said, "YOU SNORE."

            "OH I DON'T!"  The right head refuted like an alcoholic in denial of his problem, "ANYWAY YOU GOT BAD BREATH!"

            "IT'S ONLY BECAUSE YOU DON'T BRUSH MY TEETH!"

            "OH STOP BITCHING AND LET'S GO AND HAVE TEA!"  The left head suggested

            As the three heads of the enormous warrior were arguing amongst themselves, the Kenshin Gumi saw it as a golden opportunity and quietly decided to slip away.  They knew already that they didn't want to fight anyone in this place since they had no idea of what this place was or what the people were like.  At least not until running into that three headed warrior.  As they continued on the road their echoing voices still rang out from behind. 

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!"  The right head finalized, "WE'LL KILL THESE FOUR FIRST AND THEN HAVE TEA AND BUISCUITS!" 

            "YES."  The middle head agreed

            "NOT BUISCUITS!" The left head said in disgust

            "ALRIGHT…NOT BUISCUITS, BUT LET'S KILL THEM ANYWAY!" The right head said in frustration hoping that he would be able to kill at least one person that day. 

            "RIGHT!" The left and middle head said together

            It was not more than a moment as the Kenshin Gumi were a good distance away that the three headed warrior had made the connection.

            "THEY BUGGERED OFF!"

            "SO THEY HAVE, THEY SCAMPERED!"

            Realizing that the warrior has gotten the idea that they had dashed away all of them got the underlying idea that they should speed up their pace.  So, all four of them began to dash away. 

            "Why couldn't we fight them?"  Sano asked

            "I think that just seeing them is bizarre enough."  Miss Kaoru said, "Fighting them would be mind-boggling." 

            The Kenshin Gumi left it at that as they continued to run through the dark forest.  Onward to something that only Kenshin himself knew of what would lie ahead. 

            Paul Muad'Dib had lead the Peace Guns over several dunes across the barren lands that they had come to.  For a while it felt as if this man who called himself Muad'Dib was simply leading them into the middle of nowhere.  Though there was some method to his madness, taking certain turns in different directions and avoiding other places, but the reality still sunk in that there was nothing except sand in every single direction. 

            Of course the thought was thought of too soon when they reached the top of one sand dune and looked down.  Below them they saw formations of rocks, solid rock all of them standing tall, proud, and gigantic.  All of them were as large as those worms that they encountered earlier that day; some of them straight up like a rough Stonehenge, others lying down on their side like great cats lounging in the desert sun.  All of them scattered as well as clustered together like toys on the floor of a child's room. 

            Paul pointed down into the valley to a specific rock formation.  It was one where two slabs of stone seemed to come together to join in the form of a very rough A-shape.  That in itself almost looked like a doorway to somewhere but at the same time it didn't,  just another formation of rocks that nature seemed to have just misplaced. 

            "There" he said, "there's our home, our stronghold."

            Looking at it, Vash had to ask a very prominent question, "Won't the worms get in there?"

            "Certainly not" Paul said with great confidence, "our walls are solid rock, the worms won't be able to get through.  Come."

            Paul slid his way down the sandy hill into the valley of rocks.  Following him were the members of the Peace Guns, first Vash, then Meryl, Wolfwood, Millie, and Knives.  Needless to say that after their encounter with the worm had made them apprehensive as well as somewhat paranoid.  That with each footstep that they took they had to be careful to make sure that there was no rumbling beneath their feet. 

            Paul had lead them through the rough A-shape rock archway and there in the shade of the stone monoliths he stood with the Peace Guns watching him.  Without even any struggling on Paul's part he slipped through the sand beneath his feet like it was quick sand.

            "Paul!"  Vash shouted out, but before Vash could even make another step he started to sink into the sand beneath him.  So too did Meryl, Millie, Wolfwood and Knives.  They sunk into the sand and fell underneath its depths. 

            Yet, within moments they felt as if they were standing on some kind of platform.  Each one of them were trying to brush the sand away from their faces as well as out of their hair as they soon were beginning to breath air again.  They looked down and found themselves in what could only be described as some kind of docking back.  The platforms that they stood upon were lowering like some kind of free standing elevator and it came to a final stop with Paul Muad'Dib waiting for him at the bottom. 

            "Welcome."  He said as he lead them through the place called the Fremin Stronghold.  It was an absolute catacomb of hallways, rooms, elevator shafts and things that many members of the Peace Guns had never seen before.  Everyone there all dressed in the same clothes as Paul, at least the clothes that Paul had when he took off his cloak.  It was a skin tight black suit that they called a "Still-suit", which would catch moisture coming off of the body.  Each member of that place also had those same eyes, those eyes that glowed blue within blue. 

            Paul had shown each member of the Peace Guns to a room within the catacombs of the Fremin Stronghold.

            "I'll come for all of you later on tonight.  At that time I'll be addressing the entire Fremin army."

            "What about?"  Vash asked

            "About the arrival of reinforcements."

            "Wait a minute" Meryl demanded, "Reinforcements?  Who are you fighting?"

            "All will be explained later tonight."

            Of course all of the Peace Guns stewed in frustration that nothing in this place made any sense whatsoever.  First they come to a vast desert, face worms that are larger than a Sand Steamer, and now within the company of strange people with glowing eyes who say that they're reinforcements.  It was two of the most frustrating things that a person has to deal with: Being rushed and waiting.  And the Peace Guns certainly had done quite a lot of that in one day alone. 

            "Well" Vash shrugged, "At least we weren't eaten out there."

            He did have a point because anything was certainly better than facing those worms.

            In the time that they were waiting for Paul to come back some of them slept.  Walking all that distance in the desert can make someone very sleepy.  Then again not many of them had done much walking in the past few years, mostly because thanks to the Bernardelli Insurance Society and some generous contributions, the Peace Guns had the luxury of traveling on busses and Sand Steamers. 

As they slept, some of them had nightmares about being chased by those worms again.  It was the same kind of symptoms of victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the reliving of traumatic events. 

            Then the door to their room opened and Paul came through, "It's time." He said

            In a dreamy daze, the Peace Guns followed him and along the way he had to say something to them.

            "I'm sorry for making all of you wait."  He apologized, "I had to rally the troops together for what they are about to hear." 

            Paul had lead them through the catacombs of hallways to a great hall.  It was truly incredible, as much as the actual Fremin Stronghold itself.  The hall itself was enormous like a concert hall, to the eyes of the Peace Guns it seemed large enough to house several Humpback Class Sand Steamers stacked side by side and on top of one another.  It was filled with people, hundreds of people crammed into this one place. 

            Where Paul lead the Peace Guns was to a part of the great hall where it was both centered vertically and centered horizontally like a skyscrapers center stage.  Before they had arrived at this center stage there was a man there who was speaking loudly as if to a crowd. 

            "I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE VERY ANXIOUS THESE PAST FEW WEEKS."  He said, "BUT I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU AND I KNOW THAT I SHOULDN'T BE THE ONE TO SAY THIS WONDERFUL NEWS TO YOU.  THE ONE WHO WILL TELL THIS TO YOU IS OUR OWN LEADER…PAUL…MUAD'DIB!"

Paul and the Peace Guns took the center stage where all eyes of the Fremin were looking.  Perhaps thousands of eyes were all on Paul as he took the stage with the Peace Guns behind them.  As he did a great wave of applause came from the Fremin like a great ocean amplified several hundred times over.  All of them cheering, screaming, and applauding for their leader. 

            "MY FREMIN BROTHERS AND SISTERS!"  Paul called out to his army, "OUR TIME HAS COME!"

            "HAI YAWM!" the crowd all said in unison like a crowd of church goers saying 'amen' all at once.  Yet, they didn't say it at once, they were chanting it.  "HAI YAWM! HAI YAWM! YAI YAWM!"  At least some of them were making this proverbial 'amen' to Paul while some of them were chanting, "MUAD'DIB! MUAD'DIB! MUAD'DIB!"

            Paul raised his hands to calm the cheering masses, "ALL OF YOU KNOW THE PLIGHT OF OUR LAND!  HOW OUR LORD AND MASTER WHO RESIDED IN HIS TOWER RULED OUR LANDS WITH A JUST HAND!  UNTIL OUR ENEMY HAD TAKEN HIM AND KEPT HIM HOSTAGE!  AND NOW HIS FREEDOM IS AT HAND!"

            "HAI YAWM!"  The crowd cheered

            "AS ALL OF YOU KNOW, THIS WAR CAN NOT BE WON WITH ONLY OUR DETERMINATION!  THESE MEN AND WOMEN BEHIND ME ARE THE KEYS TO HIS AND OUR SALVATION!  VERY SOON WE SHALL FACE THE ENEMY OURSELVES.  I MYSELF, AS THE OATH I TOOK AS A NAIB, I SHALL NEVER BE TAKEN ALIVE BY OUR ENEMY!  I SHALL TAKE THESE MEN AND WOMEN TO THE EDGE OF THE GUNSMOKE DESERT, TO THE FOREST OF EWIN TO THE NORTH!  I ONLY NEED THE BEST WORM RIDERS TO COME WITH ME!"

            "MUAD'DIB!  MUAD'DIB!"  The crowd chanted as several men and women called out to him, "Choose me, Muad'dib!  Choose me!"  All of them willing and ready to obey his commands

            "I SHALL ONLY TAKE THE BEST RIDER WITH ME!"  Paul said to the crowd, "I SHALL TAKE USUL WITH ME!  TOMORROW I WILL TAKE THEM…BUT TONIGHT LET US SHAKE THIS EARTH AND SEND A MESSAGE TO OUR ENEMY!  THESE ARE OUR LANDS!  THIS IS MYDAR!  WE ARE THE FREMIN AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID!"

            The crowd cheered so loudly that Vash and Knives instinctively covered their ears.  Within moments, Paul had lead the Peace Guns out into the corridor where they were met by a tall man with a full grown beard. 

            "This is Usul."  Paul introduced, "He'll be our worm rider."

            "Worm rider?"  Wolfwood asked in surprise, "No…you don't mean…"

            "Yes."  Usul explained, "All of us will be riding a single worm to the northern borders of the desert.  When do we leave Muad'Dib?"

            "Right now."  Paul instructed

            "But you just said that we'd be leaving tomorrow."  Vash whined

            "I said that because I didn't want my men to worry for now and by the time I get back from taking you there, I'll simply say that you left without me with Usul." 

            With the explanation that Paul Muad'Dib gave it suddenly became clear to Meryl, "So you create these façades so that you're troops won't worry about you." 

            "Exactly" Paul smiled as he peeked around the corner into the great hall and saw how his soldiers were dancing and having so much fun down there.  He smiled in knowing that they were happy for today but for all they know they could be dead tomorrow.  He came back to the Peace Guns and said to them all, "Let's get going now."

            Quickly and quietly the Peace Guns along with Paul and Usul headed back to the surface of the desert.  Along the way, Paul handed something to Wolfwood, who then took it and saw it as a small curved knife.  He pulled it out of its sheath and saw how the blade wasn't silver like most knives, it was brown and white like that tooth that was pulled out of that worm.

            "This is your crysknife."  Paul had told Wolfwood

            The gunman priest took it with a smile and placed it into his belt knowing that on this trip they would need it desperately. 

As the Peace Guns along with Paul and Usul headed to the surface they took with them they took several odd shaped sticks.  As it was explained to them as they headed up to the surface that these sticks that when implanted into the ground would be able to attract the worms.  Just the word "attract" made several members of the Peace Guns cringe.  Still, Paul tried to reassure them that this would help them and with that Usul and Paul implanted the sticks into the ground and they al watched as the mechanisms inside each stick moved up and down like the pistons of an engine.  They all sent shockwaves through the ground and within a matter of minutes the Peace Guns felt that same rumbling feeling underneath them. 

Just like before the monstrous worm broke through the sandy surface like a great whale of the ocean.  Instead of breeching upward like it did with the Peace Guns, this time it just flowed onto the surface just like an earthworm across dirt in a garden.  Its three-way mouth closed up as it passed the Peace Guns like a great train at a station.  As it passed, Paul and Usul fired what looked like cables at the worms sides, and the two of them tried to bring as many of the Peace Guns with them.  Usul taking Millie and Meryl while Paul tried to take up Vash and Wolfwood, and Knives made his leap thanks to his super-human abilities to the worms' side.  They climbed their way to the top.  There Usul took the cables and steered the worm as if it were a car.

"HAIII-YOH!" He called out as the worm obeyed his commands

Along the way, Paul had told the Peace Guns about what had been plaguing their lands.  It was a force that had taken everything from the people as well as their king.  He told them that they needed their help.  The Peace Guns had taken in what they were told and felt that they should help.  Not just because of the request of this man who had saved them from the desert, but because all of them had deep feelings of need or duty to do this task.  As well as the most selfish of reasons, which was that they needed to find a way to get home and perhaps by helping these people it would do some good, and so they accepted the task. 

It only took them about an hour before the Peace Guns saw something different on the horizon.  They saw mountains, great majestic mountains unlike any that they had ever seen on Gunsmoke while at the mountains feet were forests, thick lush and green forests.  It was only another half an hour or so before the worm stopped completely before even coming to the edge of the forest. 

"Why'd you stop here?" Vash asked seeing the amount of desert between the worm and the forest.

"The worms hate moisture, it's poisonous to them."  Paul had explained.  With Usul still holding the reigns on the worm, Paul took the Peace Guns down to the ground and parted ways with them. 

"This is where we shall part company but I am sure that we will meet again."  He said

"I'm sure of it myself."  Vash said

"Before you go, take these."  Paul handed the Peace Guns four separate bags, "You'll find food and water in them, the road is long ahead of you.  May you all face your fears and let them pass through you."

"Same to you."  Vash said as he and the other Peace Guns headed towards the forest and the two Fremin took the worm and headed back into the desert. 

To be continued…


	6. Guns and Swords

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's Unite**

**Chapter 6: The Western Group**

**Guns and Swords **

            It had already been half a day since the Kenshin Gumi had faced that three headed warrior in the woods.  The one whose heads began to argue with each other about what they should do with the Kenshin Gumi.  They got so deeply into it that they had forgotten about the Kenshin Gumi for a moment, and they made quickly with their escape. 

            They had already arrived at the River Sting which the sign had directed them to.  It was such a beautiful place, the river wide and blue with the green thick forest around it.  Meeting the dirt road that they were traveling upon they found a small wooden bridge that spanned the rivers width.  Inside the river were dozens and dozens of fish, all of them swimming and jumping out of the river. 

With the sight of the fish, Sanosuke's stomach was beginning to rumble. 

"Hey Missy, let's get some of those fish and make some dinner."   

Looking up, Kenshin knew that it would be nightfall soon, "I think we should make camp."  He said, "Sano, Yahiko.  Try to find some firewood, while Kaoru and I will try to make some fishing poles." 

Sanosuke and Yahiko did as Kenshin said and went into the forest to gather some firewood while Kaoru and Kenshin sat at the side of the river making fishing poles out of twigs.  As for fishing string and bait, they soon figured out that there was no string or any bait anywhere that they could use.  That was when Kenshin had a brilliant idea of his own and without saying anything to Kaoru, he took off his shoes and pulled up the legs of his Hakama and the sleeves of his Kimono.  He stepped into the river feeling it shiver him right to the bone.  He took out his reverse blade sword and looked down into the river seeing all the fish wiggle and swim all around his legs.  With the Hiten Mitsurugi style, he used his sword like a shish kabob and his sword had four big fat fish wriggling on the blade.  He waddled back to land with his prize in his hand. 

Kaoru and Kenshin set about on cleaning the fish while Yahiko and Sanosuke came back with the firewood in their arms.  It was only a matter of fifteen minutes until the fire was started and that the fish were already starting to cook.

"That's quite a catch Kenshin" Sano complemented as he leaned against a nearby tree with the fire blazing, "how did you and the missy catch so many?"   

"Kenshin actually went into the river and caught them with his sword."  Kaoru reported

"Well, it was nothing special."  Kenshin smiled, "After all we had no string or bait for fishing poles." 

All of them laughed about it, but still the sobering reality came back upon them.

"What do we do now?"  Yahiko asked, "I mean we're in this strange place and we have no idea where we are or what we're doing here in the first place."

Kenshin sat back in thought, "It is a problem.  That it is" He said, "Hopefully if this place is inhabited, we will find other people who can give us the right information." 

            A few miles away the Peace Guns (Vash the Stampede, Meryl Strife, Millie Thompson, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, and Millions Knives) had come into the forest and they had already made their journey northward.  All of them still trying to grasp onto what they had just experienced, all of them mentally recapping it.  First they are brought to a great desert inhabited by enormous worms, then meeting people who have blue within blue eyes, and being told that they were brought to this land to help free a king. 

            "I tell ya" Wolfwood moaned, "If this day gets any weirder I'm gonna have to get drunk."

            "You said it."  Knives agreed, "Nothing makes any sense in this place." 

            "Let's just hope we'll find out sooner or later what exactly is going on." 

            "Didn't any of you hear what Paul told us?" Vash asked, "Their king is in trouble and we have to save him."

            "Save him from what?" Knives asked, "For all we know whatever is holding the king prisoner is worse than anything I've ever sent against you." 

            "You do have a point there Knives."  Vash agreed, "But I don't think we're the only ones who have been brought here."

            "What do you mean, Vash?"  Meryl asked

            "It's hard to explain, it's as if we think we're the only guests who had been invited to the party, when in fact they're more." 

            "In that case, let's keep moving."  Wolfwood said, "Let's not just stand around, I prefer to face whatever it is that's out there before they find us."

            With that, the Peace Guns had made their way to a river that was wide and deep.  They each looked left and right and then they headed northward.  Hoping that either the river will become shallow or that they'll find a bridge to cross.

            "Why don't we just swim across?"  Wolfwood asked

            "Are you kidding?"  Vash asked, "Not very many of us know how to swim."

            "Good point." 

            A short distance up the river, the Kenshin Gumi were enjoying the best cooked fish that they ever had in their lives.  Perhaps it was because Kaoru didn't cook it and that Kenshin did most of the handling.  Except, Sanosuke and Yahiko weren't going to let it out especially in such a fragile situation as they're in, but why would they?  They were enjoying the fish too much to even complain the slightest.  Though the fish was very different from what they were used to.

            "This fish does have a rather odd taste to it."  Kenshin observed, "It seems to be a little sweeter than the first we have back home."

            "Whatever it is, it's good."  Yahiko said as he continued to chomp down each piece of the fish making sure not to swallow the bones.  "And if we want more we can always jump in the river and get more." 

            "Yeah" Sanosuke agreed with a mouthful of fish, "I think I'll just do that after I get done with this one." 

            "Honestly you two."  Kaoru shook her head, "You really are pigs sometimes."

            Sano stewed in the insult but as he swallowed his fish, he heard something.  He stood up quickly as if there were attackers in the trees ready to come down upon them.  He clenched his fists getting to ready any and all the techniques that he had at his disposal upon the enemy.

            "What is it Sano?"  Kenshin asked

            "Someone's coming."  Sano explained

            Kaoru, Kenshin, and Yahiko all stood up ready to face what was coming.  They stood still only hearing the wind in the trees, the water in the river, and the crackling within the fire.  Kenshin was ready to draw his sword, while Yahiko already had his wooden one already out.  Kaoru on the other hand wanted to fight and so she took out her wooden sword and took the same position as Yahiko. 

            Seconds passed…

            Minutes passed…

            Soon, they heard voices, first starting out faint but then worked their way up to being loud and clear.

            "I think we should stop and make camp somewhere."  One voice said, "I'm starving."

            "You said it."  Another voice agreed, "I hope the food those guys gave us is good."

            "When you're hungry I think you're mouth will cooperate with anything."

            "Hey, look over there!  There's a bridge." 

            The Kenshin Gumi then heard foot steps coming closer and closer to where they were.  Very soon, they saw the ones who were coming closer to them.  There were only five of them.  Already Kenshin and Sano were thinking that one of them is going to have to take on two of them.  They looked and saw how they were dressed.  One was dressed in a long red coat and had blonde spiked hair…much like that man from the Juupongatana, the Sword Hunter.  Then there was another man who had a black suit on and carried a huge cross on his back.  Then there were two women behind him, and another man who was dressed in something skin-tight that the Kenshin Gumi failed to think of a way to describe it if they got back to their own world and told this story to Miss Megumi. 

            "Hey you there!"  Sano called out, "Who the hell are you people?"

            On the other side of the bridge, the Peace Guns had been walking for hours on end and were hoping to set up came somewhere on the banks of the river.  At least until Vash had found the bridge.  They knew that once they crossed the bridge they could probably set up camp somewhere on its banks or somewhere in the forest.  They all felt so excited when the crossed the bridge, until they encountered a group of people who were armed with swords and fists.  And then one of them asked _Who__ the hell are you people_. 

            "My name is Meryl Strife of the Bernardelli Insurance Society, but in some places I happen to be known as Derringer Meryl."  Meryl introduced, "And this is my assistant and friend, Millie Thompson who happens to be known as Stun-gun Millie.  This is Nicholas D. Wolfwood.  This is Millions Knives and Vash the Stampede…there we've all been introduced, could you tell us who you are?" 

            Kaoru saw the two women and how they smiled at her and the rest of the Kenshin Gumi; she brought down her wooden sword and approached them.

            "My name is Kaoru Himura, Assistant Headmaster of the Kamiya-Kasshin Dojo.  This is my husband, Kenshin Himura.  My only student Yahiko Myoujin and the one behind me is Sanosuke Sagara." 

            There was a moment of silence between the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns.  In that silence, Vash the Stampede noticed something about Kenshin Himura.  He noticed how Kenshin never fully drew out his sword, he only took the position.  He had only seen that same kind of position when he faced one of the Gung-Ho Guns.  One that wanted to experience full spiritual awareness in the face of death in battle, a man known as Rei-Dei the Blade, but in the end he found only death.  Yet, Vash was sensing something about Kenshin, especially from that scar on his face.  Something that said to him that Kenshin Himura was carrying a terrible burden with that scar, much like how Vash was carrying around the burdens of his life with the scars on his body from all those fights he had without killing his opponents. 

            Vash went for his gun, and pulled out the barrel and allowed his bullets to fall into his hand.  With the bullets in his hand he pushed the barrel back into his gun as he holstered it.  He came down from the bridge and approached only Kenshin Himura who also had taken a more relaxed pose when Vash drew closer in his peaceful posture. 

            Kenshin himself saw or at least felt something in the air about this man in the red coat called Vash the Stampede, a connection between two warriors that he had not felt since the days of the revolution.  He stepped away from his drawing posture as Vash approached with the bullets of his gun in his hand. 

            The Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi watched as the peace loving gunman and swordsman stood face to face.  Or at least somewhat face to face since Vash towered over the swordsman.   

            "Let us talk."  Vash had said with a smile on his face

            Kenshin smiled back, "We will talk.  That we will." 

            At first the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi were very jumpy about one another.  At least everyone except for Vash the Stampede and Kenshin Himura, most of the time those two sat next to each other and did most of the talking for each of their groups.  As if the two of them were ambassadors for the two very different worlds that they came from.

            "So" Kenshin connected, "You came here in the same way we did, by way of a tear."

            "Yeah" Vash confirmed, "and it wasn't the first time that this has happened to us."

            Miss Kaoru was the next person to speak for the Kenshin Gumi, "It's the same with us."

            "This has happened to you before too?"  Meryl asked

            "Yes, we came to this world were there were things that we couldn't understand.  The ones who took care of us and helped us get back were these people called…"

            "The Preventers."  Wolfwood picked up from where Kaoru was speaking       

            "Exactly."  Kaoru said sounding almost shocked and stupefied at the same time. 

Vash placed his hand on his forehead, "This really is getting strange."  He said

"It seems to me" Kenshin observed like a detective trying to make sense out of a messy crime scene, "that something is controlling the tears.  With both of our groups, we all came into the company of the Preventers." 

"Do you think that we might meet them all again?"  Millie asked like a child asking if Santa Claus would be coming on Christmas Eve. 

"I am very certain that we will.  That I am."  Kenshin said the seriousness in his tone was very sobering to the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if we found others who had come into the Preventers company."

"That's right."  Meryl remembered, "I do recall them telling us that it happened to them several times."

"That already says that someone is controlling the tears."  Kenshin said his seriousness growing even deeper.  It was much like that time when he was pushed to the point of death by Sito a man who was sent to test his abilities as the Manslayer.  Kenshin had sunk deeper and deeper into becoming the manslayer like he had several times before.  Everything changed, the look in his eyes, the way he handled the sword, and even his voice.  It was that tone that seemed to chill Kaoru to the bone.  "The real question we're going to have to figure out is who is controlling them and why?"

"And how."  Sanso said as he curled up into a ball as he chewed on the fish bones from his left over dinner, "I'd hate to think what kind of monstrous force is controlling them."

"Figures Sanosuke."  Kaoru said sarcastically, "Anything you don't understand you think it's a tool of the devil."

"Are you stupid missy?"  Sano asked, "You're still so naïve about the camera and that train!"

As Sano and Kaoru argued, Vash leaned over to Kenshin, "What's his deal?"  He asked    

"Sano is a little superstitious."  Kenshin explained, "He thinks that steam trains are controlled by ghosts." 

The moment that Wolfwood got wind of this he began to laugh, "Oh my god!"  He cackled

"Hey, wanna make something of it pal!"  Sano stood up with the fish bones sticking out of his mouth and his fists standing ready.

"If you wanna fight me kid" Wolfwood gave his ultimatum, "then expect no mercy."  He was about to reach for the strap of his Cross Punisher when Miss Kaoru and Meryl intervened.

"Stop this!  Both of you." They said as if they were absolutely synchronized like skilled swimmers.

At the same time, Vash and Kenshin looked to each others wives.  Vash looked to Kaoru and there he saw a little bit of Meryl in her.  While simultaneously, Kenshin saw a little bit of Kaoru in Meryl.  They both had that same type of bossiness over anyone and damn near everyone that came into their sights.  It was just so eerie and hilarious that both Vash the Stampede and Kenshin Himura began to laugh.  They laughed and laughed like two kids who had heard the greatest joke that they would ever hear. 

Both the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns looked at each other and to their leaders.

"What's so funny?"  Kaoru asked

"Yes, please fill us in on it."  Meryl demanded

Vash tried to calm himself down, "All of us seem to be so much alike!"  He only calmed down to get that much out of his mouth before he continued to laugh.

Kenshin agreed full-heartedly, "He's quite right!"   

"Idiots."  Meryl and Kaoru both muttered together, but then looked at one another and made the same connection as Kenshin and Vash.  They both realized what was so funny between them, it was like meeting someone whose a mirror image of yourself.  That it seems to defy all logic, reason, statistics, and numbers that something like it could have happened purely by chance, and Kaoru along with Meryl gave a slight womanish giggle about it. 

Meanwhile across from the laughing and giggling couple Wolfwood pulled out his best bottle of Jack Daniels.  He spun the cap off of the bottle neck and said to Sanosuke Sagara who was just in as much shock as Wolfwood was. 

"Hey, do you want a drink?"  He asked

"Sure."  Sano said as he took a swig of the bottle and it wasn't too long before he quickly took the bottle away from his mouth to cough and wheeze out the liquor in his system.  "Damn!  What the hell is this stuff?"

"Whiskey" Wolfwood explained and took a huge swig as if the bottle was filled with water.  Then pulled away to wipe his lips with the sleeve of his coat, "You know you shouldn't cough up the liquor.  It's disrespectful to it." 

"Yeah."  Sano said as he laid back against the tree chewing more upon his fish bones while the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi got to know each other more and more as the night went on. 

As the discussion went on, Vash had to ask something about Kenshin.  "That scar on your cheek."  He asked, "It's about a painful memory from a long time ago, wasn't it?"

Kenshin looked down into the fire and instinctively reached up to touch that part of his face where his scar lay.  Everything about that time in his life was well engrained into his memory, heart, and soul…deeper than that scar on his face. 

He told them everything, both his close family the Kenshin Gumi as well as the Peace Guns.

He remembered how he was an assassin and how one night the first cut of that scar was laid by a man who was fighting to stay alive.  Kenshin didn't know who he was nor did he care at the time.  Yet, little did Kenshin know that the man he killed had a woman he was about to marry.  A woman named Tomoe Yukishiro who would then become Kenshin's first wife.  Unfortunately because of the trusts and betrayals Kenshin became saddened when he found out that his wife Tomoe was being used to make him weak in his sword techniques, which would hopefully make him easier to kill by his enemies.  Yet, in the ambush, Kenshin had made a mistake…a terrible mistake.  He thought of sacrificing himself, but in the last blow he made against his opponent…Tomoe got in the way.  Watching the woman that he loved die in his arms gave such pain in his heart, but Tomoe left one last impression.  She took her dagger and reached up to Kenshin's face and made the last cut in his cross-shaped scar.    

"Terrible…"  Vash said in sympathy as he laid his hand on Kenshin shoulder, while Kaoru nuzzled Kenshin's side.  This man was now her husband, she only knew of his past that it was written in blood, but she never knew that it was also written upon his face as well as in the sorrows of his first love. 

"You may have that scar on your face, Kenshin."  Vash said as he stood up and began to unbutton his red coat, "But I also share something else in common with you." 

Kenshin and the others watched in confusion while the Peace Guns knew what Vash was going to reveal.  Vash had already taken off his red coat which was in a pile at his feet and they saw the brown leather jumpsuit he wore underneath.  Then in one motion, Vash had unzipped it and pulled away from his body and by the fire's glow he allowed the Kenshin Gumi to see the marks on his body. 

Kenshin's eyes went wide, so too did Yahiko's, while Kaoru covered her mouth as she gasps, but Sano was the most vocal.

"Oh…my…god…"  He whispered as he looked at each scar on Vash's body

They all started to stare.  There was the scar on his left peck, which looked like a fleshy crater that had a thick metal mesh covering it and rivets holding it into his skin.  Then there was a very thick one that ran over his right shoulder and down his chest as if he had been cut into by some dull knife.  At his side was dead scarred tissue that was a deep peachy brown unlike the rest of his fair Caucasian skin.  The whole of that section of his side looked as if a shark had bitten into his side.  As well as how his left arm below the shoulder was metallic.  It had occurred to the Kenshin Gumi that his left arm was prosthetic, and then between all the major wounds were the countless cuts, scraps, and indentations of surgery and stitching in his skin.

"All these scars" Vash said as he pulled his clothes back on, "I got them all from facing my enemies without killing any of them.  I've always lived my life on that idea of no one should have the right to kill another person." 

Kenshin suddenly felt a jolt go through him, the image between himself and this gunman named Vash the Stampede was making greater sense like foggy mirror images of each other that were becoming clearer.  Except, Kenshin developed his philosophy from the bloodshed he caused, but Vash developed his from another source. 

Vash spoke of his life story, much like Kenshin did with his about how he got that scar on his face.  He heard Vash speak about his and Knives beginnings, how the two of them were born upon a ship that was traveling among the stars like a ship among the waves.  Yet, it was one woman who taught Vash his life's code…Rem Saverem.  It was on that ship called "Seeds" that they lived, until one day when Vash and Knives got separate haircuts.  Vash got his from Rem, while Knives did his on his own.  Then things got worse when Knives killed a spider in order to save a butterfly.  Vash only wanted to save them both, but Knives felt that saving them both would be pointless, because the spiders would die without food, and thus the rift between Vash and Knives began. 

It grew even more violent when Knives used his powers to manipulate the crew of five to kill one another.  That was when the Seeds ships began to crash onto the little planet of Gunsmoke.  Then the fight between Vash and Knives grew and grew over the next one-hundred-twenty years. 

The part that made the Kenshin Gumi shocked at Vash was that confrontation between he and his brother in the city of July.  In that city, Vash had lost his left arm thanks to a gunshot from Knives.  Then with the snap of his fingers, Vash's right arm had merged with his silver gun and became a terrible weapon known as the Angel Arm.  With just one blast, the city of July was reduced to nothingness.  Amazingly enough no one died in that city. 

"Hmm," Kenshin scoffed a little, "I was a manslayer, the killer of men.  During the revolution I was known as Hitokiri Battousai."

"And I was the destroyer of cities" Vash finished, "After that day I became known as the Humanoid Typhoon and thus the largest bounty on my world was placed on my head."

From that day in July, Vash wandered for the next twenty years searching for his brother.  Much like Kenshin after the revolution, he became a wanderer, going from town to town in the blazing deserts of Gunsmoke.  Just like Vash, Kenshin wandered all of Japan and for both of them they had tried to continue the philosophy of not killing, even in the face of the most perilous danger.  In that time of his wandering, Vash came to know some wonderful people.  Marshall Mary-Anne, who had learned to love once again from Vash, Frank Marlin the Gunsmith who learned to give up drinking and continue to live, Meryl Strife, Millie Thompson, and Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

The story of Vash's life came to the end when he talked about how Vash escaped to the world where the Preventers roamed and with their help they were able to bring thwart Knives plans.  From that point on, the Peace Guns had made it their duty to try to make their world a peaceful and more inhabitable one. 

"That about sums it up." Vash smiled 

"Well Kenshin."  Kaoru smiled to her husband, "It looks like you have a twin star."

"A twin star?" Wolfwood asked as he passed the bottle of Jack Daniels back to Sano who was starting to build up some resistance to its potency. 

"That there is someone who is just like Kenshin in every single way."  Kaoru explained

Vash, like a faucet switching from hot water to cold, threw his arm around Kenshin's neck and said, "In that case, let's celebrate!"  He then laughed like a braying donkey

While Kenshin on the other hand laughed nervously but then decided to go with the flow. 

To be continued…


	7. Friends of Old

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 7: The Eastern Group**

**Friends of Old **

            It was only within a few minutes that the Shuffle Alliance had gone through the tear.  Before any of them had to make their move in any direction, they first had to figure out where exactly they where or at the very least what the terrain was like all around them. 

All of their eyes were feeling a burning sensation like going from a dark room back into the precious light.  They waited for their eyes to adjust to the bright sun; it felt like the sun even within the cockpits of the Gundams they could feel the heat and rays of it.  None of them even dared to take a step, for all they knew they were on top of some high plateau that had nothing but rocks at the bottom of the drop. 

Moments later, their eyes were beginning to adjust and see their surroundings clearly, like watching a Polaroid picture start to develop.  As soon as they did they saw that it was just like the Guyana Highlands that Domon had trained in during the 13th Gundam Fight.  Each direction that they looked they saw mountains, tall, vast, and snow capped mountains, at least in every direction except one that seemed to head southward.

            "I know where we need to go."  Domon called out, "I suggest we all head out in our core landers." 

            "Why's that?"  Sai-Saici asked

            "Take a look to the south."  Domon said and they saw his reason for saying that.  The passage between the mountains was very narrow, only narrow enough for a car or a core lander to go through.  Of course some of the Gundams could fly, but not every one of them could do it.  So, it seemed more practical to Domon to just go in the core landers, after all they could just call for their Gundams since the landers all have a link to the Gundams themselves. 

            Domon had explained his reasoning and it seemed very logical to the Shuffle Alliance.

            "I don't like the idea of leaving Maxter behind."  Chibodee said in a very leery tone like a man cautiously trying to buy a car from a sleazy dealer, "But looks like we don't have any other choice." 

            "I have to concur with Messiour Domon."  George agreed, "We can't risk loosing our Gundams to some canyon or God knows what else is in this place.  The Core Lander would be the best option."

            "Then let's go." Sai-Saici said as he disengaged his MTS system and boarded his core lander. 

            As Domon was about to disengage the Mobile Trace System, they ran into a small snag.  He heard a small voice calling to him; he opened up the speakers of his Gundam and heard the voice a little louder.  It was a voice that was instantly familiar, like seeing the face of a family member.

            "Dad!"  The voice called, "Dad!"

            Domon looked down and found the children.  They were standing there at the feet of the God Gundam like ants going to an ant hill.  There was Kyoji, Champ, Juliet, Sai-Saici III, Natalia, and Amalyee. 

            "What the…" Domon asked as he opened the cockpit and came down immediately to his son, "Kyoji.  What are you doing here?  Didn't I tell you to stay at the DeSand Mansion?"

            "We were dad, I swear."  Kyoji said with a pleading tone, "We were all there and we were about to have lunch and then we all found ourselves here."

            "Domon!" Rain called out from the God Gundam cockpit, "Is everything alright?"

            Domon stood up after looking Kyoji in the eye, "Rain, it looks like Kyoji and the other children followed us through the tear."

            "We did not."  Juliet objected, "I'm appalled that you think that I Juliet Francoise DeSand could be a stowaway like some kind of juvenile delinquent!"

            "I take that back, Rain."  Domon corrected himself, "The children are here with us."

            "Kyoji Kasshu!"  Rain yelled, "You are so grounded when we get back home young man!"

            "I swear, I didn't stowaway mom!"  Kyoji yelled back, "We just arrived here." 

            By the time that the argument between the Kasshu's had erupted, the other Shuffle Alliance Members had already brought down their core landers and joined in the discussion.  It did concern them all since they were parents of these children. 

            "I believe him, Domon."  George said, "I know that Juliet would not do such a thing.  It isn't very lady like and not quite what we taught her." 

            "We're not the only one's that arrived here."  Amaylee Beardsly pointed out, "It looks like you're wife is here as well."

            George looked sharply behind him and saw Marie Louis DeSand standing there between the legs of the Gundams.  Her doll-like face had taken upon a face of sadness that only George could notice and be in distress about.

            "Marie Louis."  He uttered as he went to her, "What happened?"

            "I was at the balcony of the mansion about to have tea and lunch with the children and the next thing I knew I was here." 

            "Well we can't leave anyone here."  Chibodee said, "So I think that they should come with us."

            "It may be dangerous, are you kids sure you want to come with us?"

            "Whatever you can face dad, I'll face with you."  Kyoji said proudly as Domon took his hand and placed it on top of his sons head as if saying _that's my boy._

            "You wouldn't leave me behind, would you dad?"  Champ asked

            "Heh."  Chibodee laughed, "I was just joking son." 

             So that was decided.  All of the Shuffle Alliance brought in their family members onto this unknown quest.  All of them boarding their own core landers; there was Domon, Rain, and Kyoji in the God Gundams' lander; Chibodee, his wife along with the other girls, and Champ in Maxter's Core Lander; George DeSand, Marie Louis DeSand, and Juliet in Rose Gundams Lander; Argo Gulski, Nastasha, and Natalia in Bolt Gundam's core lander; and last of all Allenby Beardsley and Amaylee in Noble Gundams Core Lander.  All of them traveling south through the mountain pass.  If any of them had studied Earth's history, they would know that their migration was much like that of the covered wagons that moved across the Great American West to its western coast searching for gold. 

            As the Core Lander Train moved southward, some of them were starting to wonder how long it would be before they would even run into another person or if they were lucky any kind of human settlement. 

            On the other hand, many of them were taking in how beautifully scenic every direction was.  All of the rocks painted from millions of years of tectonic movement, earthquakes, volcanoes, ice ages, and a few more million years of build-up.  All of these forces working together to create rocks of such beautiful splendor. 

            As the rest of the Core Lander Train was looking around at this beautiful place like tourists at the Grand Canyon, they began to slow down. 

            Up ahead, to those who could see it, there was a great bridge.  It's black stones showing the signs of age with moss, dried streaks of water from when it rained, and its stone gargoyles over looking the entrance to it.  Yet, it was not only the gargoyles that were guarding the entrance to the bridge.  There was a man standing there, but there was something that was very strange about him. 

            With Domon's core lander stopped, the others began to gather around him like a herd of cows seeing something that their minds can't comprehend.  They all looked upon the Guardian of the Bridge.

            He was dressed entirely in black armor and chain mail, like an old medieval knight.  Upon his black tunic, Domon Kasshu could see the red print of a boar's head.  The knight wore a black helmet that covered all of his face except for a small opening in which his eyes looked out upon the world or to any who would approach him.  He stood like a statue with his sword in front of him, its tip in the ground while his hands were perched on its pommel like the claws of an eagle.  To the knights right there was a small camp for the knight, a tent, a fire, as well as a few weapons scattered about the ground.  Such as a whip, a mace, a shield that had that same red boars head upon it, and a few packs that no doubt carried some supplies for the knight.   

            Domon opened the hatch of his core lander and in silent exchanges, he told his wife and son to stay in the lander.  Like a policeman reaching for his sidearm, Domon reached for his weapon.  The beam saber that was given to him by Heero Yuy, he wanted to make sure that he could reach for it just in case this black knight would try to attack him.  He came close to the knight and called to him. 

            "Who are you?"  He asked

            But the Black Knight was silent only staring from behind the slit in his helmet at the people who had approached his bridge. 

            "Can you tell us what this place is?"  Domon asked again

            Again, the knight was silent. 

            Domon shook his head and was about to head back to his core lander.  He felt somewhat defeated since he got not a single answer out of the black knight. 

            "None shall pass!"  The knight declared

            Domon turned around and asked, "What did you say?"

            "None shall pass my bridge." The Knight reiterated

            Domon approached the knight once again, "I'm in no mood to start a fight with anyone."  Domon explained, "But my friends and I must continue southward."

            "Then you and your friends will die." 

            "I warn you" Domon stated, "If you're looking for a fight then you'll have one, but if not then get out of our way."

            "I move…for no man!" 

            Domon drew his beam saber sending out its bright hues of blue in contrast to the Black Knights armor.  He held it in his hands as if he was back in his God Gundam ready to start the next fight.

            "Oh, going that way, eh?"  The Black Knight asked as he drew a weapon from his side.  Domon looked at it and made the lightning fast connection that it too was a beam saber as well.  He watched the Black Knight activate it sending out a beam of a bright crimson red. 

            For a split second the two of them seemed as though they were staring each other down in a Mexican stand-off.  Until the fight began with the Black Knight making his first attack, but Domon was quick to block and the Black Knight was quick to make another attack.  In each slash that the knight tried to take, Domon had already seen his weakness.  He saw that the knight was throwing himself into each blow like a lumberjack swinging an axe.  As soon as Domon made the connection he didn't even need to block.  He just made a few side steps and made the knight wear himself out on his own.  Until the knight held up his beam saber like a jousting stick and charged for Domon and with one slice the Black Knights arm came off.  It came off rather easily, the blood spurting from the wound like a hole in a garden hose, and with no pain being shown by the Black Knight.

            "I'm sorry."  Domon apologized as he bent his head asking for the Black Knights forgiveness.

            "'Tis but a scratch!"  The Black Knight said with pride.

            Domon immediately brought himself back up from his bowed position.  He looked at the arm on the ground and at the knight and asked, "A scratch?  I just cut your arm off!"

            "No, you didn't."  The Knight refuted

            "Well, what's that?"  Domon pointed to the severed limb on the ground

            The Black Knight looked at it with the blood from his wound stopped and then back to Domon, "I've had worse."

            "Worse?"  Domon asked in great surprise

            "Come on, you pansy!"  The Black Knight continued to fight the King of Hearts with only one arm still attached to his body.  To Domon this whole situation had taken the greatest leap to the absurd.  He thought that the knight would be riving on the ground in pain from loosing his arm, but instead he was still ready to fight. 

            The Black Knight had only made a few blows before he made another charge at Domon, with his beam saber coming down at his other arm and severing it just like the other one. 

            "This fight is over!"  Domon shouted at the knight as he headed back to the core lander with his beam saber deactivated.  As he was making his final steps, he felt a hard shove in his right side which sent him face first into the dirty ground.  He quickly got up and saw the black knight still standing and kicking him. 

            "Come on then!"  The knight coaxed

            "What?!"  Domon asked sharply

            "Have at you!"  The Knight called as he made another kick

            Domon got to his feet with his beam saber in hand, "I don't know which you are, incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.  You don't have any arms!"

            "Yes I have!"  The Knight said proudly

            "No you don't!  Look!"  Domon shouted in his frustration of the absurdity

            "Just a flesh wound!"  The Knight reassured himself as he continued to kick Domon Kasshu in his sides and his ass as well. 

            "Stop that!"  Domon demanded

            "Chicken!"  The Black Knight called, "Chicken!"

            "You're really asking for it!"  Domon warned, but the Black Knight took no heed, and Domon drew his beam saber and sliced off the Black Knights leg.  The very leg that was kicking him. 

            "Right!"  The Black Knight said hoping on one leg, "I'll do you for that!"

            "You'll what!?"  Domon asked

            "Come here!"  The Knight screamed as he hopped

            Domon shook his head, "What's the worst you can do?  Bleed on me?"

            "I'm invincible!"

            "You're crazy is what you are!"

            "The Black Knight always triumphs!  Have at you!"  The Black Knight continued to hop only on one leg still ready to fight like an eager schoolboy wanting to take on the big bully.  "Come on then!"  He coaxed

            But Domon wasn't going to have any more of the absurdity as he sliced off the very last leg of the Black Knight which send him to the ground as a limbless torso.  With the Black Knight down on the ground surrounded by his own severed limbs he looked all around himself as if finally realizing that he no longer has any limbs left. 

            He looked back up at Domon, "Alright, we'll call it a draw." 

            "Go core lander!"  Domon called to his core lander. 

            It came to him as if there was a driver inside it and he hopped in taking the controls with the Core Lander Train following him behind on the great stone bridge. 

            "Oh, oh, I see!"  The Black Knight screamed out at the core landers that were passing him by as if he was some lonely bum on the highway, "Running away, eh?  You yellow bastards!  Come back here and take what's coming to you!  I'll bite your legs off!" 

            After going through the tear, the Preventer Ship Relativity began to experience something very odd.  In space, there's always a more "lighter-than-air" experience because with a good enough shove a person can float right through a room.  Which is one reason why there were those handle bars in the hallways in the days of the Eve Wars so that people could get down the halls quicker.  Yet, thanks to higher gravity simulators there was a heavier feeling almost like the gravity on Earth, but still it felt a lot lighter than that.  Passing through the tear, the full force of gravity was felt by all the crew members on the Relativity.  As if everything had gotten heavier in one second. 

            "Lady Une."  The helmsman reported, "We're experiencing planetary gravity.  Distance to the surface is one hundred thousand kilometers."

            "Begin landing procedures." 

            "Beginning landing procedures, aye!"  The Helmsman acknowledged, "Deploying landing struts!  Firing Breaking Thrusters!"

            Outside the Relativity the landing was rather quick, unlike how it would have handled it on Earth.  With that there was time to plot everything since there were a million things that could go wrong and incinerate the Relativity in the Earth's Atmosphere.

            The landing gear of the Relativity deployed.  It wasn't like any normal landing gear like with jet's and helicopters that were just simple rubber tires.  The gear on that ship was more like metal feet that extended out of its hull.  The feet themselves were designed much like the Gundams themselves in which they could adjust to any type of solid terrain and still keep the Relativity level. 

            The Breaking Thrusters on the other hand were just as their title said.  The speed of going through the atmosphere is what was causing so much friction and heat.  So they needed a way to slow down the process and soften the impact.  Thus the instillation of the Breaking Thrusters, roughly thirty of them installed systematically across the Relativity's hull, only fifteen which were installed in the lower half of it were firing.

            "Our speed is slowing down," the helmsman reported, "landing gear is deployed.  Distance to surface is fifty thousand kilometers…forty-nine thousand…forty-eight…"

            The countdown went further and further down as Lady Une looked out the window and saw a small glimpse of the land.  She saw a vast range of mountains that stretched from north to south like the back of some obscure animal.  There were forests, all lush and thickly green like the rainforests of Earth, and then there was an ocean to the northeast.  Until the descent to the ground had placed the Relativity behind the range of mountains blocking out everything to the Northwest.   

            "Distance to surface ten kilometers." The helmsman reported, "nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one kilometer….brace for landing."

            All over the Relativity there was an enormous thump upward, like the feeling of an elevator coming to a stop on its way downward.  The landing feet of the Relativity had adjusted themselves to bring it to level ground. 

            "Any damages?"  Lady Une asked

            The Helmsman looked on his screen and assessed the damages that the ship would report to him.  He tapped his touch screen seeing the lists upon lists of systems throughout the ship.  Electrical, Computer Core, Thrusters, Engines, Landing Gear, and so on. 

            "No damages, Lady Une."  He reported

            Looking out the windows of the Relativity at the land that they had just arrived at, it was time to try to figure out what was going on.  Lady Une knew that the ship was in tact, but they needed to know more about this place. 

            "Make a sensor sweep of the surrounding areas."  She ordered to the helmsman, "Report everything, and leave no detail out." 

            "Aye, Lady Une."  The Helmsman acknowledged as he went to work on sending out his sweep of the surrounding area.  Though the sensors on the Relativity were fairly limited to a 500 kilometer (310 mile) radius, they would only get reports of what was outside their ship in that distance, but at least it was better than being in the dark about it. 

            "Lady Une to all Gundam pilots."  She called, "Report to the Conference Room."

            Within a matter of minutes, Lady Une was sitting down with all of the Gundam Pilots going over what they had just gone through. 

            "I just received the reports from the sensor sweep."  Lady Une had told her pilots, "From what the reports say, the atmosphere shows little traces of the gases that our world has.  So it can be concluded that this world may be pre-industrial, but there are several settlements to the west of the mountain range…"

            As Lady Une read off the report to the Gundam pilots, the only one who wasn't listening was Johan.  Ever since they went through the tear, Johan felt something very strange about this place.  Almost as if he had been there before.  Then again ever since he came into contact with that object, the pink glass sphere known as the Wizard's Glass he had been distracted.  At least that's what his dear wife Haruka noticed about him.  As if his mind was somewhere else while his body still remained. 

            Though the thing that did bring Johan's attention back to reality was the next piece of report that Lady Une had read. 

            "The most unusual thing that the sensor sweep picked up was a small settlement to the Northeast and even stranger, trace amounts of Gundanium."

            "Gundanium?"  Johan asked, "Here?"

            "We couldn't localize what it was because it was so far away and so faint."  Lady Une explained, "It could be anything." 

            "I think we should take our Gundams out and investigate."  Trowa suggested

            "I beg to differ."  Johan said with great confidence in his voice, "I think we should take our core landers out of our Gundams and travel to the settlement and see what we can find out.  Then we'll head to that area where the Gundanium is." 

            "Why not take the Gundams?"  Heero asked, "If there are any hostiles out there we should at least be prepared to fight."    

            "I can say the same thing with the Core Landers."  Johan stated, "If the need arises we can use the Core Landers to call for our Gundams, plus if we do find anyone out there who poses no harm towards us, then we shouldn't appear hostile to them." 

            "Point taken."  Lady Une said, "Here's what you'll do.  Each of you take your core landers and scout the surrounding areas.  Report whatever you find every hour on the hour.  Dismissed"

            Down in the Mobile Suit Bay of the Relativity, all of the pilots were taking out the core landers out.  While the bay door was wide open exposing everyone inside to the wonderful warm rays of the sun.  Of course, the core landers didn't just come out on their own like they do when there's no help.  They were pulled out of the Gundams thanks to the help of the mobile suit equipment at the Preventers disposal.

            Though some of the landers were changed slightly, such as Johan's was originally a motorbike, but in the reality of what he needed to do he needed it to be car-like.  Thus the Gundam Ryu's core lander was made into the same type of vehicle as the others. 

            The plans were set, most of the Preventer Gundams made their scouting in different directions from the Relativity.  That was except for Johan, he couldn't ignore the report that he got about what lied to the north.  The small settlement and the traces of Gundanium, he as well as the others in Preventer knew that Gundanium isn't something that's found in nature.  It's an alloy that brings together several different metals, but this alloy needs to be manufactured in space, because oxygen, gravity and bacteria dilute its pureness.  Only the non-gravity vacuum of space would facilitate the need to create this metal.  That's what made Johan think to himself that it must be something there, but the others ignored it because it was so faint.  Had it been something larger the computers would have identified it, but Johan couldn't ignore such a hunch. 

            He took his core lander and made the journey northward.  He did notice something that everyone else did take a notice in.  Near where the Relativity had landed was a great tree.  It was beyond anything that Johan or any of the others had seen in their entire lives.  The trunk itself could rival that of the petrified forests in the United States.  The Great Tree could even rival the thickness of a building; it even reached the sky much like the skyscrapers of the greatest cities with its branches spreading out with thick growths of leaves like a thick green cloud.  It seemed almost like the tree was a monument to some great event that happened in that place.  As Johan had seen, the tree stood alone.  There were no other trees, in every direction there was just hay and grasslands, which made it somewhat monotonous as Johan drove his way northward. 

            After passing one river, he looked at his watch and saw that it was coming to the time when he would have to stop and make his report back to the Relativity.  That was until he looked away from his watch and towards the horizon where the mountains were coming to meet each other like the hands of two lovers.  Upon the plain, Johan saw what his eyes could make out as something like a train.  He only saw it as small blocks that seemed to move in the same direction as if they were connected.  He stepped on the accelerator of his core lander sending the speedometer needle near the red as he kept his eyes on the blocks at the horizon.  As he came closer, he began to make out their shapes. 

            As he came closer he saw something very familiar about them, until he was within a mile of them and saw that they were core landers.  He stopped his lander, opened the hatch and called out to them.

            "OVER HERE!"  He called as he honked the horn of his lander.  "HEY!"

            The Shuffle Alliance had been traveling for at least a few hours through the mountains and over several rivers before they had reached the plains.  All the children of the Shuffle Alliance had noticed something strange happening with their parents.  They never wanted to say anything at first because they didn't know how their parents would react to what they would say.  It seemed as if the Shuffle Alliance were growing younger with each passing hour.  Such as Argo being the most obvious, to Natalia he seemed to be loosing his gray hairs, as if his natural hair color as well as hair line were beginning to take over.  Even the network of wrinkles were beginning to be absorbed into his face.  All of the children felt that it was too weird to say to their parents faces, at least not until they knew that they should be told this. 

The Core Lander Train had kept on going southward, until Kyoji Kasshu noticed something in the distance. 

            "Dad."  He called to Domon

            "What is it, son?"  Domon asked

            "I think there's someone out there."  He pointed out the window where he saw an object coming in over the grasslands.  Rain and Domon looked and saw it only as a small dot at first but then it became larger and larger and they saw that it was a core lander.  When the connection was made, the core lander stopped, its top opened, and someone came out of it.  The person who was in it began to scream out to them, the voice carrying over the noise of the landers engines. 

            "Over here!" The voice said faintly, "Hey!"

            Domon opened the COM to the other landers, "Does everyone see what we're seeing?"

            George responded, "I'm seeing it, and I think I've seen that person before."

            "I'm having the same feeling."  Domon said, "I'm going to meet him." 

            Domon broke away from the Core Lander Train and went to meet whoever was there.

            Johan watched as one of the Core Landers come closer and closer to him until it stopped just a few feet away from him.  Slowly the others that were following this one behind had followed suit like a crowd following its leader.  Johan felt his own knees shake as the first core lander opened its lid, and there he saw someone that he had not seen in a very long time. 

            "Domon Kasshu!"  Johan cried with joy, "Is that you?"

            Domon looked across the grasslands and saw that boy that he and the Shuffle Alliance took in along with his co-workers, the Preventers, as their own students of the Gundam Fight.  Yet, to Domon it looked like that boy, but at the same time he looked like an older man. 

            "Johan?"  Domon asked

            "Yes, it's me, but what are all of you doing here?" He asked as the other core landers opened up.

            "That's a long story."  Domon said as he and Johan began their exchange.

Preventer Report:

Officer:  Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

Code-name: Star Dragon

Date: June 16, A.C. 216

Report:  After making a survey of the surrounding area of where the Relativity had landed, I had found a group of people that the office of Preventer had not run into for a very long time.  This group was encountered over 15 years ago when the leaders of Preventer were taken by an unknown Gundam.  Of course, I'm speaking of the Shuffle Alliance, a group of fighters from a different universe and from different nations of the world.  I've made contact with them and it appears that they have traveled to whatever this world is by means of the tear. 

            It is clear to me that someone or something had brought us all to this place for some purpose.  The purpose of which I have no idea of what it is. 

            After Johan had made his report and had caught up with the Shuffle Alliance on old times he received a call from the ship.

            "Go ahead."  Johan called as he put the call on speakerphone

            "Johan."  Lady Une called, "I think that you and the other Preventers should get back to the ship.  I think we have some stowaways." 

            "What do you mean?"  Johan asked

            "Ask them yourself."  Lady Une said as Johan heard another set of voices over the speakerphone.

            "Hi dad!"  One girls voice said as a boys voice said, "Hey dad." 

            "Julia and Leto?" 

            "And they're not the only ones."  Lady Une reported

            "I'm on my way back with the Shuffle Alliance." 

To be continued…


	8. Cave and Ring

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 8: The Northern Group**

**Cave and Ring **

            It had been several hours after the Sailor Senshi had arrived in a world that was strange and unusual.  It was Seiya who first came around and looked around finding himself in a place that was picturesque.  Vast mountains, grasslands, and springs, but his mind wasn't in the mood for sightseeing.  He wanted to find Usagi. 

            He stood upon his feet feeling dizzy much like that feeling someone would get before fainting or from spinning round and round.  He concentrated hard to bring himself to find Usagi.  His eyes stung from the bright sun, he instinctively brought his hand over his eyes like a visor.  He looked all around, but his vision was just one bright blur until his eyes finally adjusted and he found everyone lying around him.  The other Starlights, Sailor Senshi and even the cats Luna and Artemis.  And there was the very person that Seiya was looking for; Usagi.  He dashed to her side and picked her up.

            "Usagi."  He called to her, "Usagi." 

            Slowly Usagi came around and looked up, "Seiya."  She whispered

            "Good."  He said, "You're alive." 

            "What about everyone else?"  Usagi asked as she sat upright

            "We're all alright."  Rei answered Usagi's question 

"Ok."  Seiya assessed, "We need to find out what this place is."

"I'm on it."  Ami said as she pulled out her palm computer and assessed what the land was like. 

The other Senshi began to come around and adjust themselves to the new environment.  Though there was one person who felt something very odd about the land around them.  Rei, being the spiritualist of the group had a deep sense of spirituality in other words a sense of things in the next realm that normal people don't. 

            "I don't like this place."  She openly declared

            "What's wrong, Rei?"  Usagi asked in concern for her friend

            Rei started to shake her head, "This land around us, it feels cursed."

            Rei was always the sensitive one for these types of things.  As if she were some kind of barometer for the spirit world. 

            "Cursed?"  Minako asked

            "I feel souls everywhere in this place, souls of the dead.  They're in pain as if they're trapped, alone, and angry.  We have to get away from this place."

            "Got it."  Ami said, "The best direction is that way."  She pointed eastward.

            "Let's get going then."  Seiya suggested

            Rei kept looking out onto the land of the springs feeling those souls that she was talking about, "Stay away from the springs."  She warned the others as they walked eastward. 

            "I agree."  Haruka voiced, "There's something very wrong about this place."  Much like Rei, Haruka Tenou could feel that same ominous presence in that place.  Almost like being in a room with dozens of other people and knowing that you were in the middle of it all. 

            "What do you mean, Haruka?"  Michiru asked

            "I can't explain it."  Haruka tried to grasp a way to explain it in a different way than Rei. 

            "In any case," Seiya interrupted, "We should try to get out of here."

            "Hey, who made you boss?"  Haruka snapped

            "Stop it, all of you!"  Usagi stepped in, "We're not going to get anywhere by fighting one another."

            "That's just like you."  Haruka smiled

            "Yes, it is."  Seiya agreed

            "In either case," Rei interjected, "We have to get out of here as soon as possible."

            "This way then."  Ami pointed out the direction like a human compass.  Even though she had given them directions, she was still trying to localize something in that direction.  Her scans had shown people in that direction, though the part that made her scratch her head was the fact that she found only three people.  Who they were and what they were doing in that place was something that she wanted to find out for herself.    

            The other Senshi had looked in the direction behind them, which was to the west and they saw clouds gathering together.  All of them instinctively knew that a storm was coming and so they tried to move a little faster hoping that they would find shelter somewhere along the way. 

            At the foot of the mountains that Shinji Ikari had awakened at, he had found the woman he had come to love in a motherly sort of way…or perhaps like a sister, Misato Katsuragi.  When Shinji had first laid eyes upon her he felt like screaming for joy to see her once again.  The last time that he saw her was right before his last fight, the one where he made the choice to live.  Misato had told Shinji in a very frank way that we all make mistakes in our life.  Its not about how we should have dealt with them, it's about how we move on from the mistakes in our pasts. 

            "Oh, Misato."  Shinji cried as he ran to her and threw his arms around her waist and wept into her dress underneath her red coat. 

            "Still crying, Shinji?"  Misato asked softly as she stroked the back of the boys head.

            "Thank God."  Shinji wept, "It's a miracle!"

            "What's a miracle Third Child?" A brash voice asked

            Shinji spun around and looked and found standing among the grass was the awakened Asuka Langely Sohryuu.  Shinji felt like singing along with his tears that he shed for the sheer joy of seeing both Misato and Asuka alive.  Instead in his tears, Shinji went to Asuka and threw his arms around her much like he did with Misato. 

            "You're both alive."  He cried, "Thank God, you're both alive." 

            "Get a hold of yourself Third Child."  Asuka said as she tried to pry herself away from Shinji, "And by the way does anyone know where we are?"

            Misato was in the exact same state of mind as she looked around seeing the mountains, the springs, and the grasslands.  She felt as confused as the rest.  The last thing that she remembered was being in that entry way after convincing Shinji to fight again.  She remembered lying down in a pool of her own blood and calling out to Kaji.  After that all was darkness as if she had fallen fast asleep and awoke in that place with Shinji and Asuka. 

            "I don't know."  Misato answered and then looked to the west where she found a spreading of clouds, dark and gray.  "I think we should find shelter."  She instructed to the two Eva pilots

            "Why?"  Asuka wanted to know

            "Because there's a storm coming."  She pointed to the west where the clouds were gathering and the sparks of lightning were forking their way down to the ground. 

Shinji and Asuka looked and felt the same way about it.  Shinji's fight thought was to shelter themselves under the Eva's but then he thought it wouldn't do that much good since they'd still be out in the cold.  His eyes drifted as he tried to think of a way to help out.  Then like a man finding a pattern in an ink blot test, Shinji had found something in the mountain to the north.

"Hey look."  He pointed up the slops of the mountain.

Asuka and Misato looked and they found a small hole in the mountain.  They couldn't tell how far away it was but it seemed very clear what it was.  It seemed so obvious that it felt a little too convenient that they would find it so close to where they were. 

"A cave" Misato stated

Asuka was the first to head up the slopes, "Let's go then before the storm hits!"

Misato allowed Asuka with her bountiful strength to wear herself out on the slopes of the mountains.  She then turned to Shinji and spoke her thoughts about the direness of this situation. 

"I think we should try to find some firewood."  Misato stated

"Yes."  Shinji agreed.  Though he didn't agree blindly like he did so many times before by saying "yes" over and over again to whatever Misato said.  He knew that he, Misato and Asuka were in the middle of nowhere, with no other person in sight, and have no idea of what's going on.  So, setting a simple goal like finding firewood seemed such a simpler task.  Looking a little closer to the mountain Misato did notice a small growth of trees.  It was just to the right of the cave's entrance where Asuka was bounding her way and to the left of where the Eva's were.  

"There."  She pointed and Shinji followed her to the small growth where they found some small pieces of bend out of shape wood that they took in arm loads up to the cave where Asuka sat.  It seemed that whatever force had guided them to this place had given them some good fortune in making the climb to the cave more like a brisk walk uphill rather than climbing vertically over sharp rocks. 

Shinji and Misato kept piling the wood in a small stack inside the cave.  After making the pile big enough they looked all around the cave and found it to be pretty large. The cave was more like a bottleneck.  A small entrance that led into a larger vast place, it felt as large as their apartment in Tokyo-3 if all the walls were knocked down. 

"Alright, let's get this fire started."  Misato said

"Does anyone have a lighter?"  Asuka asked

When Shinji heard that question, something drove him to bring his hand into his pocket.  He couldn't figure out why, but he did.  Almost like a man searching for his keys all over the house but never checked his own pocket.  As his hands reached down into the depths of his pocket, his fingers came across something cold and hard.  He pulled it out and in the light that came into the cave Asuka and Misato saw something square and silver in Shinji's hand.

"A lighter?"  Asuka asked, "I didn't think you smoked."

 "I don't."  Shinji said, "But it was just there and I know that it wasn't there before."

Misato raised and eyebrow, "This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger, but let's use it." 

Misato constructed the fire using some of the dried grass that she found outside and set some small stones in a ring around the crudely constructed wood stack.  The pieces of wood stacked against one another like a cone with the dried grass stuffed underneath it.  She took the lighter and set the flame.  Within a matter of moments the fire began to blaze sending out its hues of orange, yellow, and red like the sun that was setting outside.  They all felt the bright warmth of the fire knowing well that the storm was coming. 

            The Senshi had been walking for hours on end and already some of them were beginning to feel the effects on their feet.  Mostly Usagi and Minako.  Then again, the two of them weren't exactly up for long walks, especially ones that made their feet blister pretty badly.  The only thing that kept their minds off of it was the fact that they were stranded in the middle of nowhere with the Starlights.  Though the distressing fact to them was that the Starlights were actually women in disguise, but Minako knew that a woman could still dream.  Then she had to ask the ever classic question like a five-year-old on a family trip.

            "Are we there yet?"  She asked Ami

            "Unfortunately no."  Ami answered honestly

            Though there was something else on Ami's mind that she found on her palm computer.  It was something that was in the direction that they were going.  Her computer detected something that her computer registered as both organic and inorganic at the same time.    

            Several times the Senshi looked in back of them to see the progress of the storm that was coming from the west.  Each time that they looked back it was still coming closer and closer.  It was like they were trying to run from a monster in their dreams.  The one that keeps coming no matter how far or how fast the person runs.  Until at last, it caught up with them and the rain came down.

            At first, it was only a small drizzle. 

            "This isn't so bad."  Minako stated.  After all her muscles and body burned with all the work she put into walking, but she spoke too soon.  Because then it came down in one huge downpour and all of the Senshi were soaked to the bone, cold and shivering. 

            In the cold damp rain, Ami looked up and she saw a light coming from the side of the mountain. 

            "Over there!"  She called out to them.

            She didn't notice the things that were next to that cave entrance, but in the darkness of the nightfall no one seemed to care.  All that mattered was getting up to that cave.  Along the way, there were some acts of chivalry on part of the couples in the group.  Such as Michiru took off her sport coat and held it over Michiru's head in a make-shift umbrella.  So too did Seiya for Usagi as they made their way up the muddy slopes of the mountain. 

            The Evangelions were talking amongst themselves about what they were going to do.  They did have the fire, at least that priority was already met, but there were other issues that needed to be addressed.  Misato, assuming her roles of authority as she did back in the days of Nerv did so.   

            "Alright" she said, "Here's how it is, we may have some shelter, but we have no food and no water."

            "And for a while I thought we were being rescued from our own world."  Shinji moped, "But it seems we've been brought into a fate even worse."

            "Quit being so morose Third Child."  Asuka tried in her very stuck up way to cheer Shinji up.

            Shinji himself couldn't help but smile at Asuka, because this is what he really wanted.  He desperately wanted Asuka to respond to him while she was lying back there in that hospital bed in her comatose state.  He wanted her to make fun of him, to insult him, anything just to hear her voice shouting at him, anything would have been just fine for him. 

            Thinking about that, Shinji's stomach began to clench as if he was about to vomit.  He thought back to how he tried to awaken Asuka and he rolled her over exposing her breasts to him.  In that state, knowing that Asuka wouldn't respond to anything, Shinji had masturbated while staring at the half-naked comatose Asuka. 

            He tried not to think about that, but trying to repress terrible memories like that always find their way into the conscious mind like earthworms through soft soil.  In that time Shinji prayed to God that Asuka didn't know anything about it.  It was bad enough when Asuka had found out that Shinji had tried to kiss her while she was asleep. 

            As they began to weigh the situation they heard voices:

            "Up there."  A voice said and the Evangelions were fearful of what those voices belonged to; friend or foe, man or monster.  So many possibilities like the balls in a tumbler on Bingo night at some church gathering, the outcomes would be different every single time.  All of them like scarred movie goers clutching together at the scary moments of the movie they waited for whatever it was out there to come to the caves entrance.

            The first person to come through that bottleneck cave entrance was a young girl with blonde hair that was done up into buns on each side of her head.  From those buns it tapered down do her sides, but with the dampness those tapered pieces of hair clung to her body much like her wet cloths.  Soon others followed her, approximately a dozen of them, mostly women came through that entrance. 

            "Hello."  The girl with the buns said to the Evangelions

            "Hi."  Shinji said timidly, of course in the old days he would have never done this.  To say hello to a stranger on the spot, but after being in a dead world to be around so many people felt like a great blessing to him.            

"Who are you?"  Misato asked very inquisitive about who these people were that came into their company.

"My name is Usagi," Usagi introduced her friends who were all in the same state, cold and wet.  "And these are my friends, Ami, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Hotaru, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, Seiya, Taiki, Yaten, and our cats Luna and Artemis." 

"I'll extend the same introduction."  Misato stood up from her stone seat, "My name is Misato Katsuragi, and these are Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryuu."

During the introductions, Shinji noticed something about the girl named Haruka.  Both her name and her face were very familiar.  He knew that he had seen it before.  It was like trying to remember the name of a movie when you know who was in it and what the movie was about.  It was that same frustration that he got when he couldn't think of it. 

After the introductions of both the Evangelions and the Sailor Senshi, they all sat around the fire and began to talk amongst themselves. They spoke about their pasts.  The Senshi's pasts were a little lighter hearted then those of the Evangelions.  Most of the Senshi felt a deep need to help them with their own internal pains; Shinji with the conflict with his father, Asuka with her need to feel important, as well as Misato who seemed to try very hard to make things better.  All of them felt shocked when they heard about all the things that they had done in their lives, fighting inside giant robots and even worse was the very last enemy (called the Angels).  It was a boy named Kaworu Nagisa who was the only person who had shown any true understanding toward Shinji.  Then came the choice of whether he could allow Kaworu to live and destroy all humanity…or kill him in order to ensure the human races survival, but loose his greatest friend. 

Usagi shook her head, "There had to have been another way for you."

"No."  Misato refuted, "The one who lives is the one who has the will to survive.  Kaworu didn't have that will, instead he chose a false hope."

"I wish I could see it that way."  Shinji said as he curled up into a ball

As the night went onward and the fire continued to burn Misato had to ask a very important question.

"How did all of you get here?"  She asked, "Do you live in this place."

"Of course not."  Rei said very snootily

"We came here through a Trans-Dimensional Vortex."  Ami stated

"A what?" Misato asked, "Geez, this girl sounds like Ritsuko." 

"A tear" Ami explained.

Shinji sat straight up when he heard that, "It's just like last time."  He said to Misato.  That was when the pieces had clicked together in Shinji's mind about that girl's face.  The one named Haruka Tenou.  He knew her from when he visited that place where the Gundams and the Preventers lived.  She was the wife of a man named Johan Rodriguez, but what was she doing there?  She seemed so much different that the one that he met there.  Shinji noticed that this Haruka had a woman named Michiru who was hugging her arm a lot as if they were married.  He made the connection that they must have been lesbians, but he was much too courteous to come out and ask it himself.  Still, the look in Haruka's eyes was colder, as if the only thing that mattered in her life was her mission.  He had seen that look in one other woman, Rei Ayanami, Haruka had that same icy stare.  It wasn't as warm as the Haruka that was the wife of that Gundam pilot.   

"What do you mean, like last time?" Haruka asked

Shinji explained, "A while back, we had found this 'tear' and so Misato, Asuka and I went through it and we found ourselves in this place that was like our own world but at the same time it wasn't."

"Wait."  Minako interrupted, "Were there young boys there, who called themselves the Preventers?"

"Exactly."  Shinji nodded with a smile, "There were Preventers there and there was a woman there who looked just like Haruka there."  He pointed to Haruka Tenou, "But she was married to someone named…"

"Johan."  Haruka stated

"Then you've been there."  Misato stated

"It's very odd."  Ami scratched her head, "All of us have been to the same universe, but this is the first time we've met each other."

"However this turns out," Misato shook her head, "I only hope that we'll find an answer soon."    

The night progressed onward and the fire began to die down as the Senshi and Evangelions fell asleep on the cold stone floor of the cave as the storm outside still raged onward.  All were asleep, that was for the exception of Minako (Sailor Venus).  Her mind was a torrent of different thoughts about this whole day and why they were brought here.  She desperately tried to find a comfortable position amongst the cold and damp rocks.  It was at that time that she was cursing the fact that she was wearing a skirt, everything felt so cold. 

She laid her hand down on the rocks figuring out what position would be the most comfortable and her fingers felt something.  It was round, hollow, cold, and hard.  The closest thing that her mind could relate it to was metal.  She wrapped the tips of her fingers around it and picked it up.  She brought it close to her face and in the dying light of the fire, the light of the moon that was trying to break through the clouds, and the sparks of lightning, Minako saw what she had.  It was a ring.  She couldn't make very much out of it, all she could see was that it looked a little like a man's ring.  She knew this because there were no jewels crowning it.  It was just a simple band, but in what light she had she saw tinges of gold.  So, it had to be a man's ring, she thought.  Though Minako loved gold, so she brushed off what dirt was on it and put the ring on.  With the cold ring on her finger, Minako fell asleep with the other Senshi and Evangelions. 

To be continued…


	9. The Guns of the Past and the Future

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 9: The Southern Group**

**The Guns of the Past and the Future**

Lupin and his friends walked into the town called Derry.  They were quite surprised when they saw it.  It was just like a small American town, buildings that were anywhere between one and three floors high.  Two lane streets,Stores were open, andthe street lights were already starting to burn, as well as Pine Trees.  There were Pine Trees that were placed all around the town like decorations.  Yet, as the three of them walked in, they were met with very curious looks.

The looks from the people of Derry, everyone seemed so…Lupin himself had a hard time struggling with the word for what described these people.  The only word he could think of was, "Homey".  That could be it, homey. All these people seemed to have this "down right homey" feeling to them.  The men were in jeans, overalls, plaid shirts, and dirty cheap baseball caps, the women in house dresses that weren't anything fancy or anything of the like; just plain, simple and sensible.  Just the look of the women in the town seemed to make Fujiko shiver in some odd way that she could never be sure of.  Perhaps that was something that struck a chord with all of them.

It never quite felt like home, to any of them. Even though they had traveled the world and seen so many places. It always felt like home in a way, but not this place.  Everything seemed so weird to them.  Lupin and Jigen didn't exactly get a whole lot of oddball looks from the townspeople.  But Fujiko and Goemon definitely did.

Fujiko got her looks from the women.  They seemed to look at her with shock and disbelief.  It was as if they had never seen a beautiful woman like her before.  There was even one woman who had a daughter with her who got a good look at Fujiko.  The mother covered her daughters eyes as Fujiko passed them.

"Don't look sweetie." She said, "Don't look."

Goemon got odd looks from everyone, as if none of these people had ever seen a samurai like him before.  Still, he kept to himself.

"Well, looks like, we've arrived." Lupin shrugged, "Now we just need a place to stay and a bite to eat."

"Yeah." Jigen nodded

"I'll ask this fellow." Lupin said as he walked up to a man who was dressed in a priests robe and collar

"Good evening, sir." Lupin smiled as he shook the priests' hand

"Pleasant evening." The priest smiled

"We're new in town, and were wondering where we might find a hotel."

"Oh." the priest said as he took a good look at Lupin and his crew, "You'll find a hotel just up the street. It's called, "The Elks Lodge", you'll also find it has a restaurant on the first floor."

"Thank you, sir." Lupin smiled

The four of them continued up the street and to "The Elks Lodge".  There they saw it.  It was a three story building that seemed to be made entirely out of logs.  As well as small windows that seemed to open upward.  They looked in through the windows and saw the restaurant as the only means to enter it.  They saw the bar as well as tables and booths were people were eating.

"Well, this is the place." Lupin said as he opened the door, it opened with the ring of a bell.  In an instant the noise and commotion stopped in the room as men, women and children looked to the strangers that had just wandered in.  Lupin looked around and went to the bar.  There behind the bar was a man with very shortly cut hair, tanned skin, and a little bit of stubble on his face from not shaving for a day or so.

"What can I do for you?" The bartender asked

"We would like to request some lodging." Lupin asked

"You mean you want a room?" The bartender asked

"I think that's the general idea."

"I have a few rooms with twin beds if you like. Or maybe four singles?"

"Two rooms with twin beds, thanks."

"Alright, then." The bartender said as he went to a small corkboard that had a few keys on them. He brought them over to Lupin and handed it to them.

"I'll need 100 dollars for a safety deposit."

Lupin reached into his wallet and pulled out one of the 100 dollar bills that was pulled out of that casino in Monte Carlo.  It was a good thing that they had US dollars in there, Lupin thought. Or we'd be screwed…

"In the meantime." Lupin said as he tucked away the keys into his pocket, "We'd like a few drinks."

"What'll you have?" The bartender asked

"Beer for me." Lupin said as he took a seat at the bar

"Make that two." Jigen said as he sat down

"Make that three." Fujiko said resting her tired and sore feet on the cool steel of the footrest.

"Ok, three beers." The bartender said as he took out three mugs, "And what'll you have stranger."

He refereed to Goemon

Goemon simply said, "Sake."

"What's Sake?" The bartender asked

"Water then." Goemon changed his order

The four of them drank in mid silence as the noise of the bar continued

But Lupin had to know something.

"Hey, Mister." he asked the bartender

"Yeah?" The bartender asked  
"What is this land called?"

"This land?"

"Yeah, what'd you call this land where this town is located?"

The bartender gave him a very strange look.

"This land" he said, "Is called Mydar."

"Thanks." Lupin said as he continued to drink his beer  
"Mydar?" Fujiko asked as she whispered into Lupin's ear

Lupin shook his head, "I have a feeling that we're not in France anymore."

"Where'd you four come from?" The bartender asked  
"Not from around here, that's for sure." Jigen said sarcastically.

"You're travelers?"

"Yeah, right. We're travelers."

"We don't get many travelers through here."

"Why's that?" Lupin asked

"This is a pretty far out town. Most people just want to live peacefully here and have no troubles."

"A noble way of life."

"How boring." Fujiko whispered as she sipped her beer.

The night went on, a little on the uneventful side, aside from Goemon facing a bigot lumberjack and Fujiko facing the leader of the PTA.  So, the way the rooms were set up was that Goemon and Jigen would share one room.  While Lupin and Fujiko would share the other.  Though Fujiko objected to this, Lupin simply went inside the room, lied down on the bed and fell asleep.  He fell asleep without even taking his clothes off or pulling back the sheets.  He didn't even take his shoes off.  Fujiko looked down at Lupin and smiled.   She went over to her bed and pulled off the comforter and laid it on top of the sleeping Lupin.

Yet, she wanted to do one last thing.  She bent down and laid a small kiss upon Lupin's cheek as she took off her dress, her shoes, her holster, and climbed into her bed.  She shut off the lights, while the stars and the glow of the moon shined over the land.

            The Outlaw Six had hiked their way northward, each of them having different reactions to the arduous journey.  Sazuka suffering rather quietly as the soles of her feet began to ache, but that was by the fiftieth mile or so.  Jim was just like her, a real trooper, or maybe just too stubborn to admit that his feet were hurting like hell.  This was especially true for Melphina since she was traveling along in high heel shoes.  Asia was a little more vocal about it; she would mutter_ how far is the next town? _As well as _my feet are killing me,_ except for Gene who seemed determined (obsessed even) to get to whatever was up ahead.

            "Gilliam."  Jim asked the bubblegum pod in his hand, "Can you tell how far away we are from the next town?"

            "You're approximately 3 kilometers away." 

            Gilliam had reported this when all five of them felt a shift in the ground beneath them, they were going uphill.    At first it just felt like a small incline, but then it became like walking up a sharp slope.  The line of sight was already gone when some of them looked up as the green grass covered hill was rising in front of them.  Until at last they had come to its summit and there below they saw a town that spread itself outward from the cup of the valley outward to the hills.  The buildings were tall but not quite skyscrapers that were in the center while there were houses that spread out into the hills some of them hiding under trees like fairies in some enchanted forest.    

            "Let's get going."  Gene motioned for all of them to head down the hill that they were standing on and into the town. 

            Gene was the first to head down the hill with his friends following behind.  All of them as silent as could be, come to think of it, none of them had really spoken to one another since the Outlaw Star had crashed, practically little to no communication among them.  Had this world that they come into reduced them to the level of dumb beasts?  Perhaps, but they didn't need to talk to each other about it for the moment.  All of them were thinking the same thing, but it took someone to bring it out to the open to show how their minds were on the same subject.

            "Hey Gene."  Jim addressed

            "Yeah, Jim?"  Gene asked as he continued to walk onward to the town

            "I don't know about this place."  He voice his opinion, "There's just something that doesn't sit right here."

            "What do you mean Jim?"  Gene asked

            "I think I know what Jim's talking about."  Melphina backed up the young boy like an older sister, "It feels like someone wants us to be here."

            "You make it sound like we were forced to come here."  Sazuka observed with her razor-sharp mind.

            "Not forced." Melphina corrected, "More like…it's hard to find the right word for it.  I think we we're brought here but for something greater as if someone needs out help here."

            "Summoned."  Jim blurted out.  He, like Melphina had struggled to find the right word to describe how they were brought to that place.  Why the Outlaw Star had that tear in space open in front of them like someone opening the door for them at some great department store.  "That's it…we were summoned here."

            "But why?"  Asia asked as if she were whining either from her aching feet or from a very intolerable situation. 

            "It doesn't matter now."  Gene placed his foot down on the discussion, "Once we get to that town we'll ask around and we'll get a car."

            "Why a car?"  Jim asked, "We don't know what kind of money they take around here _and_ we don't even know if there are people around here!"

            "We'll worry about that later, Jim."  Gene said with a very stern look as he continued walking down into the town.  With Gene's declaration, the Outlaw Six fell silent once again.  They were like children whose father had laid down the law of the house and they had nothing else to say about it, until they came into the town.

            On its outskirts, the Outlaw Six had passed a sign that was written in English.  They did know some of the language but not quite all of it.  At least not what the sign had written upon it. 

_Welcome to __Boulder___

_A Nice Place to Call Home_

            The road into Boulder was only, at first, a beaten down path, or paths since there were tracks that no one in the Outlaw Six had ever seen.  These tracks were two parallel grooves that were spaced equally apart.  Inside them the there was no grass unlike the places around it that were thick, lush, and green. 

            Up ahead the twin dirt paths had led into a paved road, which stretched onward into the town vanishing amongst the trees, hoses, and cars that were upon either side of it with the tree covered hills and tall buildings in the distance.  The Outlaw Six made their way into the town, at first walking upon the black top road, until a car had passed them honking its horn for them to get out of the way.

            The car that had passed them was very strange indeed, because the car looked so old in its design and at the same time it looked brand new with its bright reflective exterior.  One feature that all of them noticed was that the cars were not floating on air as most cars did in the Toward Star World.  What was between the car and the ground were round objects that spun round and round.  No one in the group had seen anything like that, except Jim Hawking.  He saw it as he was reading the paper to pass by the time at slow business hours.  He came across something that a group of archeologists on Earth had found as they were digging.  They said that it was what was called an "automobile", a transportation device that was similar to the cars of their modern times.  Except from what the scientists could gather, instead of running on the jet-like engines as they had, the one that they dug up ran on fossil fuels and used large round rubber wheels to aid in its movement. 

            It all seemed so unbelievable to Jim's eyes, there was something that was up and running in front of his eyes when the picture in that article showed something that was rusted, corroding, as if the slightest touch could turn it to dust.  Looking at it, Jim was already starting to run ideas through his quick thinking mind.  Had they traveled back in time?  Had they come to an alternate universe where certain progresses weren't made?  Such enormous questions without any answers.

            "Hey Jim!"  Gene called

            Jim snapped out of his hazy dream and ran to catch up with Gene and the others.  He didn't want to tell the others about what he thought about it, because being Jim; he didn't want to make any enormous conclusions until he had more information.  Then again it was rather odd that he would go on such intuition back on the hill looking down into that place called Boulder.  On the other hand he did gain some intuition in his growing up.  Especially when he met a young girl with cats named Homyio, instead of thinking with his head he thought with his heart.  Perhaps some of that left over intuition he had was seeping through. 

            The Outlaw Six had made their way into what they felt was the center of the town as each building was taller than the next as they progressed onward.  They did encounter people along the way, most of them glaring and giving odd stares.  Like how out-of-towners stare at people whom they consider freaks that walk the streets of large cities, and yet to the city dwellers, these freaks are part of the scenery.  That's how the Outlaw Six were when they walked past the people who grew in numbers as they continued to the center of the town.  All of them those odd stares as if they had never seen their kind before, especially Asia Clan-Clan with her tail and long ears.      

            Finally, Jim had to say something about their wandering.   

            "Gene."  Jim called

            "What is it now, Jim?"  Gene asked

            "Do you have any idea of where you're going now?"

            "First of all, we need to find someone who deals in cars and then we'll go from there."

            "Great plan, Gene."  Jim said sarcastically, "Then where do we go from there?"

            "I don't know."

            "Ah."  Jim exhaled in his frustration, "You've always been like this.  We're not on Sentinel or on Hayfong anymore!"

            "Well what do you suggest we do?"  Gene shouted back at the young boy.

            As the two "children" argued back and forth, the women of the group tried to wait it out like how people sit through a raging storm that goes on outside their house walls.  It was funny to watch Gene and Jim like that because they really did act like children; Jim doing it with an adult mind in a child's body, while Gene did it with a child's mind in an adult's body.  Yet, there was one girl who felt very strange indeed. 

            Melphina began to feel something odd about the world around her.  At first she only had a vague idea of why they were brought here but while Gene and Jim argued back and forth a new sensation came to mind.  It was comparable to the times when a person feels as though they're being watched.  How that they're all alone in a room and yet there's a presence standing right behind them and the only thing that'll confirm it is to look around and see. 

            That is what Melhpina did; she turned around and looked across the street.  Past the cars, trees, and people walking along the sidewalk, she saw what was nagging at her.  The sensation of someone watching her as the sounds of the spat of Gene and Jim were drowned out like hearing a loud noise while being submerged in water.  She saw a store, a watch store.  Melphina had seen these types of shops on Heyfong, they were the kind of places that sold nothing but clocks, watches, and other miscellaneous time pieces.  She looked into the window and saw those glass display cases filled with watches all of them telling the wrong time and waiting for the right owner with people working behind them, serving customers and servicing watches.   

Then her eyes looked to the shops right and there was something that had escaped Gene and Jim's attention like a detail so obvious that it seemed inconsequential.  Beyond the tree branches she saw white strings that had triangular colored pieces of plastic hanging from them as they traveled from the telephone poles to the central building.  She looked down around its base and there were cars, a dozen perhaps two all of them with English numbers painted into their window.  That's when Melphina had found a sign that she understood completely. 

_Ford Smith's Used and New Car Dealership_

The next morning each member of the Lupin crew woke up more relaxed than before, even though the gravity of this whole situation was so odd to them.  Being in such a place that they had never heard of and in a town that seemed like it was out of the 1950's.  Still, each of them tried to continue on with what was going on.  Each of them showered, though Fujiko was a little paranoid about it.  For a while she wouldn't set foot in the bathroom.  Who could blame her?  The only way to get her in was mostly left up to Lupin. 

As she stood at the doorway in her underwear she continued to say, "I'm not going in there."

"In that case." Lupin said in a very sexy voice

He laid his hand down Fujiko's panties.

She jumped and slapped Lupin.

"Alright, I'll go in."

She went in and showered.

Lupin rubbed his cheek, "Glad I could help." He muttered to himself

The four of them left the Elk's Lodge, and saw what a bright an sunny day it is.

"What do we do now, Lupin?" Jigen asked as the four of them stood on the sidewalk of the Elk Lodge.

"Well, I say we continue our journey north." Lupin said

"Not walking." Fujiko moaned, "Please Lupin, let's not walk."

"I couldn't agree more, Fujiko." Lupin smiled, "But we've got to find a car dealer."

As the four of them walked through the streets of Derry, Lupin found that same man he ran into yesterday...the priest.

"Good day to you." Lupin smiled as he shook the priests' hand

"Good morning to you, sir." The Priest said

"I didn't get your name last night."

"Father Callahan." The priest replied

"Well, Father Callahan." Lupin smiled, "I'm sorry to trouble you again...."

"No worries, it is my duty to help those in need."

"In that case, do you know where we can find a Car dealer?"

"Oh yes." Callahan smiled, "Just up that road there." he pointed down a street, "You'll find Crazy Eddies Cars. He's a good dealer with a silver tongue."

"Don't worry." Lupin smiled, "I have a silver tongue as well."

"Good luck to you..." Callahan paused, "I didn't catch your name either."

"My name is Lupin, Arsene Lupin the 3rd."

"Good luck to you, Mr. Lupin." Callahan smiled as he continued to walk  
"Nice guy." Fujiko said slightly shocked, "too bad he's a priest."

"He may be a priest." Jigen said, "But I don't think that makes him a saint."

"Neither are we." Lupin said, "Let's get going."

As the four of them continued onward, they passed by an old Antiques shop.  Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen all kept going onward, but Fujiko was the one that stopped.  It was almost like passing by a jewelry store that was practically giving away all of its wears.  For there was something in the window that caught Fujiko's eyes, but it wasn't any piece of jewelry that could be made.  It was so simple that Fujiko felt almost floored by even looking at it. 

In the display shelf that looked out onto the street of Derry, there was a wooden cup.  Surrounding it were other beaten up old items, like typewriters, candlesticks, and lamps.  Yet, it was that wooden cup that drew Fujiko's eyes. 

She went inside.  Opening the door that sent out a jingle of the bells that were connected to the door and she closed the door behind her looking around at the tables and shelves filled with old objects that would hold some worth to someone with the right eyes and wants. 

From behind the wooden counter came a tall, lanky, and scruffy looking man who was roughly in his forties.  He came up to the beautiful Fujiko and smiled showing that he was missing most of his front teeth.

"Good day, miss."  He said very politely, "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about that wooden cup you have in the window there."  She pointed back to the display window where she saw it.

"Hmmm, that old thing?"  The store owner asked, "That's been in this shop since my grandfather owned this place.  We've been trying to get rid of it for years and no one has wanted it until now."

"How much do you want for it?"  Fujiko asked, it seemed so incredibly unusual for her to want something so beaten up and old like that, but something inside her wanted it.  Almost like an impulse or an itch that she desperately wanted to scratch with all her life. 

"I tell you what, miss."  The man smiled showing that gap in his smile, "Since you're the only one who has shown any interest in it, I'll give it to you for free."

"Really?"  Fujiko asked

"Yes."  The man smiled as his beady little eyes looked up and down Fujiko's body, "It really has been a long time since my eyes have seen such a beautiful lady such as yourself."

"You flatter me very much, sir."  Fujiko blushed

"I'll get the cup."  He waddled over to the display window and carefully pulled the cup away from its place.  He took it to Fujiko and placed it in her hands like a knight bringing back his lady the Holy Grail itself. 

Fujiko looked it over, it truly was a wooden cup.  It had that deep brownish color that only oak would have.  Though the deep brown was somewhat obscured by the thin later of dust that caked it.  She blew the dust away sending out a cloud of it through the store like cigarette smoke.  Inside it she saw gold, a shimmering layer of gold within the cup itself.

"What's the story behind this one?"  She asked as she looked at it. 

"The story goes" the owner began, "was that my grandfather found it by the river one day while he was fishing.  He tried to find someone who wanted it or someone who had owned it before, but no one had owned it or wanted it.  So he brought it to his father's antique shop where it has remained until this very day.  The unusual thing about it is that a lot of my family members have lived to be very old between that generation and this one.  By about fifty or so more years to their lifespan, but I just think that it's probably something in the water."

Fujiko took the cup in her arms and bowed to the store owner, "Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, beautiful miss…"

"Fujiko."  She corrected, "Fujiko Mine."

"I hope that you enjoy the cup, Fujiko."  The store owner said as Fujiko left the shop.    

She looked up the road where the rest of the Lupin crew were walking and she dashed in her high heel shoes as best as she could to them.  Eventually she caught up with them slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Fujiko."  Jigen asked, "Where were you?  And what the hell is that beat up piece of junk there?"

Lupin's attention was caught and he looked back, "Where did you get that, Fuji?"

"I got it at an old antique shop back there."  Fujiko explained, "The store owner was so grateful that someone was interested in it that he gave it to me for free."

"Looks more like a beat up piece of firewood if you ask me."  Jigen joked

"No way."  Fujiko refuted, "This thing is not going into any fire at all."

"Hmmm," Goemon observed, "For someone who held jewels in high regard you seem to have developed a deeper attachment to that wooden cup than to any diamond on Earth." 

"Yeah, Fujiko."  Lupin agreed, "What gives?"

"I can't explain it, Lupin."  Fujiko tried, "I felt that I just needed it."

The four of them continued to walk up the street and there they saw a lot that was filled with cars.  While above it from street light to street light there were colorful banners waving in the wind.  As the four of them came in they looked at the cars.  Within a matter of seconds, the car dealer came out.  He was a rather short balding little man, with a small mustache and beady little eyes as he wore an awful yellow plaid suit.

"Hi!" he said loudly, "I'm Eddie, what can I do you for?"

"We're here to look at cars." Lupin smiled

"Is there anything you're looking for?" the dealer said with a smile

"Nah." Lupin said as he cupped his chin, "we're just looking."  
"Ok. If you're interested in buying, let me know."

The dealer turned back and went to the trailer at the back of the lot that was no doubt his office.

"Lupin, I thought we were getting a car." Jigen said

"You should know me better than that." Lupin smiled, "I never pay for anything, at least hardly anything.  Why pay, when you can steal, right?"

Lupin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that looked something similar to a Swiss army Knife.

"Wait, Lupin." Fujiko said, "I think I have a better idea."

"Oh, I know you do, Hon." Lupin smiled, "what is it?"

"I'll just get the key from the dealer."

"Alright, but first let's pick something."

Lupin surveyed the scene, all he saw were family like cars, SUV's, and other types.  He didn't see anything that was to his taste....Until....There at the very corner of the lot was a car that he liked already.  It looked just like the car he had.  Except it was candy apple red, just like the jacket he wore.  It shimmered in the light of that morning with its top down and its seats were so inviting to the thief.

He pointed to it, "That one." He said

"Alright." Fujiko smiled as she placed the cup she bought from the antique dealer on the front passenger seat as she prepped herself.  She squeezed her breasts making sure that they were fully forward and that the dress had exposed them just enough for any simple minded man.  Seeing that she was as sexy as ever she walked her way to the office her hips swinging from side to side as she approached.  She walked into the office seeing Eddie in his desk shooting rubber bullets at a small target pinned up on his wall, along with a calendar girl either from Sports Illustrated or Playboy magazine.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Eddie smiled rubbing his hands together like he did when he smelled a sale coming on.

"I'm interest in that car on the corner." Fujiko said as she leaned forward allowing Eddie to get a very full view of her breasts in her low U-cut dress.  Eddie's eye grew wide with hunger, but then he snapped himself out of it and looked at the car at the corner of his lot.

"Oh that one." He said

"The Mercedes Benz." Eddie smiled, "She's a very fine car, and you do have good taste."  Eddie took out the keys for it from one of his desk drawers.  There weren't that many keys; then again there weren't that many cars to keep track of in his lot.  He took them out, Fujiko laid her eyes upon them, but then she leaned even farther forward.  Her forearms squeezing against her breasts as Eddie's eyes grew even more distracted.

"Uh...." He said as he was distracted but snapped out of it, "Would you like to take it for a test drive?"

Fujiko waved her finger from left to right, "Oh, no." She said, "I'm interested in something with a little more power."

She walked around the desk, Eddie watched her swing her body back and forth.  He couldn't take much more of this visual arousal.  Fujiko sat down in his lap but kept herself looking straight forward at him.  She hugged his chest close her bosom.  Eddie couldn't take it anymore, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her closer.  While Fujiko's right hand went for the keys that were lying on his desk. She slipped them down her bra, keeping Eddie distracted with her feminine wiles.

"You're a hungry one." She said to Eddie

"I haven't had a woman in years, not since my third divorce." Eddie said like a therapist patient begging for medication.

"Oh." Fujiko said with such deep sympathy, "You poor baby."

She got off of Eddie's lap and ran her fingers across his chin.  She knew that she got him excited already with how much he was shaking with goose bumps.  "But not now" She said, "I'll go tell my friends about the test drive."

"Ok." Eddie said as he propped up his hands and placed his chin into them and watched Fujiko leave.

He watched with his still hungry eyes looking at her wonderful figure. Not like most of the women in Derry, this woman was a real woman.  As Fujiko left, she was the only thing on his mind.  He didn't even notice that the keys for the Mercedes Benz were gone from his desk.  Outside, Fujiko reached down deep into her bra and pulled out the car keys.  She came up to Lupin and the others who were standing around it, waiting.

"So how did it go, Fuji?" Lupin asked with a wink

Fujiko swung the keys around her index finger, "It was about the easiest job I had ever pulled. That man was easier than you, Lupin."

"Easier than me?" Lupin asked surprised, "I never thought anyone could surpass me."

Fujiko handed the keys to Lupin and the four of them got in as Lupin started up his new ride.  The engine roared and sent a nice vibrating feeling all through his body.  Fujiko came in and sat right beside him while Jigen and Goemon sat in the back.  As Lupin started up the car they heard Eddie come out of his office screaming.

"Police! Police! Thieves! They stole the car!  Stop Thief!" He continued to scream

"I don't think so old man!" Lupin grinned as he set the car into first gear and floored the gas pedal.  The car took off like a rocket down the street.  They took several turns before Lupin saw that they were heading north once again.  They past the Elk Hotel on their way out on the main street of Derry and passed by the sign on the north side of town that read:

_You are now leaving, __Derry__._

_Come back soon and drive carefully.  
  
_

The candy apple red Mercedes Benz drove expeditiously past the sign as Lupin and his friends drove north.

"You're right Fujiko." Lupin laughed "That was too easy."

"It was like taking candy from a kid." Fujiko winked at Lupin in her very sexy way as she took the cup that she got at the antique shop and held it close to her as if it were more precious than any diamond or jewel she ever had.  As she held onto her prize she watched the road and the scenery pass them by with the wind blowing in her hair.  Up ahead she saw a green road sign that read:

Rachel                        200 mi.

            "Gene."  Melphina called

            Gene never answered as he was still in the heated debate with Jim like those men on the news channel debating current issues, always interrupting each other and taking low blows at one another's character. 

            "Gene!"  Melphina shouted

            Both Gene and Jim halted in their conversation like someone slamming down on the breaks of a race car.  The two of them had quickly set their argument aside and set their sights upon Melphina. 

            "What is it, Mel?"  Jim asked

            "Look."  She pointed across the street. 

            Sazuka gave a sharp giggle as she joined in with the others in looking across the street.

            "Hey, what the hell's so funny?"  Gene demanded

            Sazuka stopped her giggling and said, "It's amazing to me how you two can argue so much and not see the things around you.  That's what I find so amusing about both of you."

            Gene uttered something under his breath that Sazuka had allowed to slide.  After all she did have certain feelings for him.  Even though Gene was more romantically involved with Melphina, Sazuka still had them.  In a way she did admire him, after all it was because of him that she had missed her only assassination.  It was the one that involved Gene's investor, Fred Lowe.  Even in a duel she had with him, Gene somehow managed to win by knocking her wooden sword out of her hand as well as pulling off her red sash that kept her dress on her body. 

            "Well, let's go."  Gene called out to his crew as they walked across the street making sure that there were no cars coming in either direction.  In making their journey across the street, only four of them went straight to the dealer, but Melphina had stopped at that watch shop.  She leaned against the window pressing her forehead against it and looking in at all the wondrous watches and clocks.  In the display cases there were so many different designs, shapes, colors, like all those clothes and shoes in department stores. 

            Up ahead, Jim Hawking turned around to find Melphina leaning against the window of the shop they had passed.  Jim never quite knew what was in that store, nor did he care because there were bigger things to take care of.

            "Hey, Melphina" He called to her, but the Outlaw Star navigator never budged, never moved from that spot. 

            Frustrated, Jim marched over like a three-year-old kid having a tantrum and said, "Melphina, come on.  We got things to do." 

            Melphina turned and looked down at Jim.  The look she had in her eyes frightened the boy for a moment.  The look she had was like the eyes of all those countless drug addicts that lived on the streets of Sentinel.  They were the ones who sought to escape the horrors of reality through something that came in a tube, a plastic bag, or a needle.  Melphina had that same kind of stare, a dreamy kind of stare as if she had eaten or smoked something that she shouldn't have. 

            "There's something I must do in here."  She said as she left Jim's company and walked into the store.  Jim on the other hand felt very confused indeed.  Melphina was never one to do something like that.  Of course there were times as he and the Outlaw Six were searching for the Galactic Leyline when she came into contact with things that she couldn't explain.  Things that dealt with her own identity and the reason for her being.  So, Jim decided to stay and watch from the sidewalk as Gene took care of the car and Melphina was inside the store. 

            Inside the watch shop, Melphina walked in looking around at the wall clocks, grandfather clocks and the countless watches underneath the glass cases.  She did it not in the way that she did when she went shopping on that one occasion with Jim.  It was in a more dream-like state, how everything in peripheral vision is blurry and the hands move in the same dream like state.  They were moving but the mind wasn't thinking of moving them in the first place.  

            "Can I help you miss?"  The man behind the counter asked

            Melphina looked to him and shook her head. 

            The clerk who asked this question to Melphina had that same disturbed feeling as Jim did when he looked into Melphina's eyes.  He didn't say that customary reflex of _let me know if you need anything_, instead he turned and went back to what he was working on.       

            For Melphina, in her dream state she was looking around at the watches.  Her sights were not set upon the wall clocks or the grandfather clocks.  For some reason she felt pulled, to something somewhere under one of those glass cases.  She passed by the children's watches, the women's watches, digital watches, and finally the men's watches.  Among the terrain of steel bands, digital faces, analogue faces, and name brands, Melphina's vision began to narrow.  Among them, only one watch stood out the most, like the brightest star in the sky.  She came closer to it and looked even closer. 

            The watch that her vision narrowed in on was just a simple metal band watch, but there was something more elegant on its face that made it stand out among the other watches.  Instead of an analog or digital face like the others, its face was a metal plate that completely covered the face.  Upon it there was a great Chinese dragon that snaked its way from the bottom to the top, showing off its scales, claws, tails and whiskers.  Yet, it was below the tail that there was the word PULL and Melphina's mind was still sharp in that she felt it was silly to sell a watch that doesn't tell time.  She placed her hands on the glass and looked further down into it seeing how the metal gleamed under the fluorescent lights. 

            Then the dream like state seemed to wear thin as if she were waking up.  Her vision became clear as she asked for the salesman.

            "Excuse me, sir."  She called, "How much is that watch?"

            The salesman came over and pulled the watch out that she was pointing to.  "Hmm" He said like a jeweler looking at a very prominent diamond, "This watch we've had for a very long time you know.  So it's kind of an antique, wouldn't you be happier with something new."

            "No."  Melphina shook her head, "That's the one I'd like, but unfortunately I don't have any money."

            The salesman scratched his head, "Then that'll be a problem."

            Melphina looked down and at her ankle she saw that bracelet she had.  It was something that she had from her previous dress, the blue serape over her suit.  A dress that she lovingly called, "My Blue Period", that was until she came to the Galactic Leyline and met…herself.  The part of her that was the Maiden of the Leyline and after that it changed her indefinitely, she became a happier person, and she even changed her dress.  It became the one she wore on that day, that red outfit that didn't hide her figure like the blue serape did.  Yet, she still kept that ankle bracelet.  It was gold, she knelt down and took it off, she came straight back up and handed it to the salesman.

            "Will you trade it for this?"  She asked like a child hold up a handful of pennies to buy candy. 

            The salesman smiled, took the ankle bracelet, and gave Melphina the watch, "Here dear, enjoy it."

            "I will."  Melphina smiled greatly as if it was the birthday gift that she had been waiting her whole life for.  She slipped it on, looked at it as she headed out to the streets where she headed to the car dealership. 

            It was at the dip where the sidewalk meets the road where Melphina found a car.  It was a very angular looking one that had a red stripe going down the middle.  It was a convertible because it had the top down and inside Melphina found the rest of the Outlaw Six. 

            "Hey, Mel!"  Jim smiled, "Looks like we got ourselves a car."

            Gene was sitting at the wheel with the passenger seat next to him vacant and Jim, Asia, and Sazuka sitting in the back.  Looking at the car from front to back and seeing the passengers in it as well as Jim smiling, she knew right away that something must have gone right.  She grinned as she got into the passenger seat. 

            "What happened?"  She asked as Gene drove the car onto the street

            "Well, here's how it happened."  Jim explained, "We go in and we tell the guy that we need a car but we have no money to pay for it.  The guy I swear is like Fred Lowe in so many ways, just ridiculously happy.  He took one look at Gene and said he had a good feeling about us and he told us to take any car that we want."

            "And that's it?"  Melphina asked

            "That's how it happened."  Jim smiled as he lay back with his hands behind his head and the car rolling onward. 

            "That's not all we found out."  Jim added, "We found out what this place is called.  This land or world that we've come to, according to that car salesman he said that this land is called Mydar."

            "Mydar?"  Melphina asked

            "Yup."  Jim answered, "That's what he said."

            A moment of silence had passed before Gene asked, "By the way, Melphina, what were you doing in that shop?"

            "Yeah."  Jim asked, "We were wondering where you were when we got the car."

            Melphina was never one to lie about anything, even though it was somewhat embarrassing, she told the truth, "I was in the watch shop next store."

            "A watch shop?"  Asia asked

            "Yes."  Melphina smiled, "And I got this."  She showed off her watch to the Outlaw Six

            "Kind of an odd model."  Sazuka gave her opinion

            "I like it."  Melphina smiled as the car passed by a sign that read:

Now Leaving Boulder

Have a Nice Day

            "Where are we going from here Gene?"  Jim asked

            "I don't know."  Gene answered his tone sounding very, very serious, "Somehow I think we should head north."

            When Gene mentioned that Melphina felt it too, it was the same feeling she had when she felt herself being pulled into that watch shop.  Almost as if someone was guiding her to that place and told her to get that watch for a reason.  If she was a mind reader she would know that Gene was feeling the same thing.  That same inexplicable pull towards a certain direction.

            "What do you think is there?"  Asia asked, "I for one hope that it's treasure." 

            "I don't think so."  Gene said, keeping his eyes on the road, "It's weird, I know, but for some reason I think that we should go north and I think that we have to hurry.  It feels like we're racing against time."

            "But for what is something I sure as hell would like to know."  Jim added

            "Yeah, I sure don't like this." 

            "For now, there isn't anything else that we can do."  Jim advised, "So we head north and see what we find."

            Only a moment passed before they had reached a road that was like a highway, but there were very few cars on it.  It was as if the road had been abandoned by comers and goers.  Yet the road itself was freshly black with bright yellow paint upon it and the landscape on either side that stretched on and on into infinity.  Until Melphina saw something up ahead.

            "Gene, look."  She pointed

            Closer it came, and Gene recognized it as a road sign and he could read what it said:

Rachel                        200 mi.

            "That's where we're going."  Gene said, "Rachel." 

            "What will we find there?"  Jim asked

            "Hopefully something good." 

            In this strange land that the Lupin crew knew to be called Mydar, two groups were on parallel roads heading north.  None of them knew about one another, the only thing that they knew was a feeling.  Something they could only understand by intuition or as if they were like needles in a compass that were being drawn to something where the poles were.

            On the road to Rachel, the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew drew closer, passing by the green road signs with only one destination marked upon them as if it was the only town in this whole land. 

Rachel                        10 mi.

            As the question of what they would find there in the town of Rachel, Gene Starwind had hoped that there would be something good.  That being that there would be answers, answers to his questions.  The questions about this land, why they were brought here, and most of all, how will they get back home?  Then again, everyone in the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew had those very same questions as the parallel roads had met on the outskirts of Rachel. 

To be continued…


	10. The Key Master

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 10: The Western Group**

**The Key Master **

            It had been nearly two full days that the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns had been at each other's sides.  Each of them getting along quite well with each other, as Kaoru had said that Vash the Stampede and Kenshin Himura were twin stars, two souls that were exactly alike to one another in every way.  The same was said about the others, Miss Kaoru and Meryl Strife, for them looking at one another in controlling their men was like looking into a mirror.  Though for Millie Thompson and Yahiko Meyojin, the two of them really were somewhat opposite.  For Millie was like a child in a woman's body, while Yahiko was more like a man in a child's body.  Then there was Wolfwood and Sanosuke, who got along quite well with the drinking as well as gambling. 

            The only one who didn't seem to have a twin star for himself was Millions Knives, but from Kenshin's point of view there were several people who had that look in his eye.  It was a look that Kenshin had seen many times before in the eyes of men who had killed without any remorse.  He saw it in the eyes of Aoshi Shinomori and Hajimae Sito.  Even though Vash had told Kenshin that Knives was on their side, Kenshin still got the creeps from looking into those twin blue eyes that seemed as if they had no pity or mercy, the eyes of a manslayer. 

            They had trekked through the dark forest, heading northeast.  Traveling by day and making camp at night.  Each night they would share stories of their lives, tales of the Meiji Era and the Planet Gunsmoke. 

            "So."  Kenshin laughed, "I came back from fishing with this catfish and I find out that it swallowed an engagement ring and I was instructed to give it to Miss Kaoru."

            "And you had no idea of what it meant?"  Meryl asked

            Kenshin shook his head with a smile, "Absolutely not." 

            "Yeah."  Sanosuke continued, "So Yahiko and I were trying to get the ring back from the missy since I met a guy at the river who said he threw a ring just like the one Kenshin found into the river."

            "We even went as far as trying to get the ring while Kaoru was in the tub."  Yahiko explained with a little wincing about it. 

             They all had a good laugh about it, even Kaoru who was the one that was the most devastated that day.  After all since it was Tanabata day, she felt that if Kenshin gave her a ring on that day their love and marriage would grow stronger.  After all she always said that she was a young maiden who blushes at flowers, and having the man she loved give her a ring like that on that day of all days was her dreams come true.  Then to have them taken away from her was really devastating to her, but eventually Kenshin did set it right by giving her a ring, and they became husband and wife. 

            Meryl, who was sitting next to Vash poked him in the side with her elbow to get his attention.  Vash looked down at the woman he loved who seemed to have a sour face, like that of a child who saw some kid possess some great toy that she wanted above all others. 

            "They're married."  She said with a small glare in her eye.         

            "Ummm…" Vash tried to dance around or at the very least escape the issue, because after all he and Meryl had been together for a very long time.  They had admitted love to one another so, why not?  Perhaps it was because Vash was still trying to overcome things within himself before he could allow himself to move on in other areas of his life.  He had forgiven his brother and moved on with his life from that, but his intrapersonal relationship is another issue altogether. 

            "Then there was this time…" Sanosuke began to tell the next story, this one was about an enormous brown dog that he had found while he was at a temple praying for good luck in his gambling. 

            On and on the stories around the campfire went between the Peace Guns and the Kenshin-gumi.  All of them laughing together about the adventures that they have had. 

            There was one story that Meryl was telling about how she met Vash the Stampede.  Coincidentally, Kaoru had told a similar story about how she met Kenshin.  At first thinking that he was the Battousai who was smearing the name of the Kamiya-Kasshin style by killing people left and right.  In meeting Kenshin, Kaoru found out that he was a goof-ball with a reverse blade sword.  For Meryl she continued to deny that the man with blonde hair, red coat, and a silver gun was the Humanoid Typhoon.  In both stories they never truly saw who these men were until they saw their skills in action with their own two eyes. 

            As the stories continued, Vash felt something on his left side like something was landing upon it.  He looked in that direction, which is where Kenshin was sitting, but it was something closer to him.  He looked upon his red clothed shoulder where he found…dust.  He reached over and pinched some of it off like a chef going for a pinch of salt.  He brought the pinch to his front and examined it like a sharp-eyed scientist.  He rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger and saw how rough it was in some places and it was fine in others like flour. 

            It didn't take long for the members of both the Peace Guns and the Kenshin-gumi to see what their friend was doing.  He had the look of a man who has found something but doesn't know its significance yet. 

            "What is it, Vash?"  Meryl asked

            "I don't know."  Vash answered so softly it was as if he wasn't speaking at all, only moving his lips.  As the source of the dust had trickled out of his hands, he looked up as if someone had whispered the very instruction into his ear. 

            In the branches of the tree above him, Vash's eyes only saw them rustle as if it were the wind, but there was no wind that night.  There was one branch in particular that was continuously moving up and down like the arm of a metronome.  Vash squinted hoping to see what was up there with the little light that the fire had to give.  An image came clear as he saw a pair of pants among the branches, but when the image became clear everything took a sharp turn. 

            SNAP!

            One of the branches had cracked and began to tumble down upon Vash the Stampede with a completely unfamiliar voice that followed it.  Down from the tree came the branch that had cracked and the very thing that was giving off the image of pants.  It came up out of the twigs and leaves brushed itself off of the dirt it had accumulated and then turned to look upon the Kenshin-gumi and the Peace Guns. 

            By the fire's glow, they saw a young boy, probably the same age as Yahiko give or take a few years.  Yet, his clothes weren't child-like at all; they looked more like they belonged to a forty-year-old.  He wore a gray suit (or perhaps it was charcoal, but the fire's light didn't precisely give off what shade it was) with a white dress shirt & red tie.  But there was one other feature that gave him away as a kid, it was the backpack that he wore, which seemed very heaving in the way its straps buried themselves in the boys shoulders. 

            The boy looked out at the Kenshin-gumi and Peace Guns with eyes that were very bright in the fire's glow.  His hair was light like Vash's but not as bright, it was more of a dirtier shade than Vash's like beach sand.  In his hand was a branch of the tree he fell out of.  It looked twisted and gnarled from the years of trying to grow from the tree with some of the leaves still attached to it.  One part of it looked like it had been carved into by a dull knife the very part where the branch had once connected to the tree before the boy had cut it away.  

            In silent observation the Kenshin-gumi and the Peace Guns had locked eyes with the boy.  Until the boy himself smiled widely at them as if they were his long lost friends that he spent his life searching for.  In fact, the very next thing he said was very much like that. 

            "You've come."  The boy smiled, "You've all come."

            "Excuse me."  A desperate wheezing voice called out, "But could you get off me?"

            The boy looked below to find his feet were in the chest of a man in a red coat.  Within a second the boy was off of Vash's chest and apologizing. 

            "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were there."

            "No problem."  Vash wheezed as he got to his feet.  He never quite saw the boys face until he turned around to greet him, but when he did he froze in his tracks.  He didn't know at the time, but Kenshin Himura was the same way when his eyes met the boy.  It was the very boy that Vash and Kenshin had met in their dreams.  The one who said that they would be needed soon. 

            "Who are you?"  Kenshin asked his throat feeling as dry as the desert itself. 

            "I am Jake Chambers the Key Master."

            On the other side of the fire, Kenshin's mind became a storm of questions.  Questions of how this boy was able to appear in his dream and then appear in front of his face.  Was whatever he carved on that doorstep connected to the branch he had in his hand?  Did he bring them all here to this land?  All such questions, but Kenshin hoped that the boy would unlock the door to the answers. 

            "It was you."  Kenshin uttered, "In my dream, I saw you."

            "So did I."  Vash added

            The boy cupped his chin, "Let's sit down."

            Everyone had already followed his advice since the whole camp was sitting down around the fire except for Jake and Vash, who sat down near the fire.  After Vash took his seat, Jake pulled out a small knife and began to carve away at the branch of Ash he had in his had. 

            "Alright" Kaoru demanded

            "Explain yourself."  Meryl finished

             Jake continued to carve out the tree branch in his hand but he spoke as he did, "I've already given you my name, but there's no need for any of you to give me yours."

            "Oh?"  Knives inquired, "Why is that?"

            "I already know yours."  Jake explained never taking his eyes away from his little carving project. 

            "How's that possible?"  Vash asked

            "There are many things that are within my masters' power."

            "You're master?"  Wolfwood asked, "Who is he?"

            "He is the one true king of our land."  Jake explained

            "And what is this land?"  Vash inquired

            "This land is called Mydar."

            "And if you know about us," Vash postulated, "then you must know why we are here." 

            "I do."  Jake said as the last piece of the twig fell off of the branch making it into one long twisted stick. 

            "Well, spit it out already!"  Sano spat in frustration of waiting

            "You see," Jake began putting his knife away and the piece of wood at his side, "In the beginning my master ruled this land of Mydar with a just and fair hand, but then a group of strangers came.  It was because of my masters' kindness that allowed them into his Ivory Tower.  Once inside, they took over; they pillaged, ransacked the tower, captured our master, and turned the once beautiful Ivory Tower of Mydar into a dark and forbidding place."

            "What does all of this have to do with us?"  The young impatient Yahiko asked, but was given a good hard tap by Kaoru telling him to be quiet and let Jake explain.

            "As our lord was captured he told us that he would find a way to combat the Scourge of Mydar." 

            "You mentioned 'us'." Kaoru observed in her cat-like curiosity

            "We seven are the guards of the One."  Jake explained with the intensity of a great campfire story teller.  "After our master was captured we seven scattered through the lands of Mydar waiting for a sign that it would be time to take back the tower."

            "And the time is now."  Kenshin said as he gripped onto his sword

            "Yes."  Jake smiled, "You will be part of a great army that will help us seven take back the tower and free the king as well as the lands of Mydar from this scourge."

            "So there could be others that have come to this place?"  Millie asked

            "I'm sure of it."  Jake nodded, "After all…there are other worlds than these."

            "Where is the tower?"  Wolfwood then asked

            "To the northeast from here…"

            "That's explains why we've been going in that direction!"  Yahiko immediately connected, "This tower is drawing us to it."

            Jake pointed to Yahiko, "Exactly!"  he said in a low voice, "We can get to the city of Nash by train which departs from Hilldale which is about ten miles or so in the same direction." 

            "A train?"  Sano asked with a great shudder

            "I should send a message to the other two guards who are there."  He said that as he was looking up into the night sky like a stargazer or an astrologer hoping to find just the right kind of sign. 

            "Hey," Wolfwood interjected, "If you say that this tower has been taken over by these people and only you seven escaped then wouldn't they be out looking for you?"

            Jake began to laugh out loud like a man who had heard the greatest joke in his life.

            "What the hell's so funny?"  Sano demanded

            Jake calmed down, "My…my master truly was wise in choosing you, but you're right.  The ones who imprisoned my master have been out looking for us.  For several reasons, one of them is that our master took the bulk of his power and split it into seven different items."

            "Items?" Vash asked

            "One of them is embedded in this branch."  Jake had laid his hand upon the ash branch as if it was his only love in his life, "As for the rest of us, the others have either sought refuge in the country like me or went in disguise into the city, and we've only managed to communicate to each other by bird."  He looked up once again at the night sky as if he was expecting something to come to him. 

            "Woah, woah!"  Wolfwood halted Jake in his story telling, "Bird?"

            "Yeah."  Jake answered back, "It's the only way we seven can communicate with one another without our enemies suspecting anything.  But I think that they'll catch on soon."  At first Jake's voice was sounding enthusiastic but then took a very sullen turn, "I do fear for our master, I fear that there may not be much time left."

            "What do you mean?"  Kenshin asked

            "Well…"  Jake began as if he was struggling to find the right similes, metaphors, or euphemisms to describe his masters' condition.  "In separating out his power into the seven items it was like loosing blood, but in this case he can't regenerate what he has lost."

            "Shouldn't we be looking for the other items as well?"  The cautious Meryl asked

            "Under normal circumstances I would agree."  Jake said, "but I would imagine that the others have the same idea in mind and probably have them already.  There is so much at stake in all of this, so our main concern should be getting to the City of Nash which lies at the foot of the Dark Tower.  Once there we can hope that the others will arrive there as well, but I need to send a message to them as soon as possible to tell them that we're coming."

            Jake leaned back looking up to the night sky with that hopeful stare in his eyes as if it was the only thing in the world that he wanted.

            So, a new member was added to the group of swordsman, the boy who was called Jake the Key Master. 

The Kenshin-gumi, with the Peace Guns made their way to the town of Hilldale lead by their newly acquired guide, Jake.  All of them had come to like the boy in their own way.  Such as Yahiko liked him as if he was some kind of distant cousin that lived his life in a strange land.  While the couples of the group, such as Vash and Meryl, Wolfwood and Millie, Kenshin and Kaoru, looked to the boy and saw him in a way a parent looks upon their child.  It is unbelievable that such a bond or even an imaginary one could have happened in such a short time, but there it was, the ways of the heart are never clear. 

It had been a few days after they headed north towards the town of Hilldale that lied in the northeast.  In their trek towards that direction slowly the forest had already become a very unfriendly place.  The once lush green leaves that had patches of sunlight upon them grew darker as if they were slowly burning into ash with each step they took.  The forest around them grew darker and darker as they made their way through.  Soon the warmth from the sun was replaced by a cold chill that made the mist rise from the ground like some kind of dance hall trick. 

Very soon, the forest was a gray, dismal place where it felt as if they were being watched in all directions.  All around them there was a very ominous feeling.  Even the extra abilities of Vash and Knives could feel it as well.  There was that feeling that they weren't alone in the forest. 

SNAP!

They heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance.  Several of them looked to the left where they saw a black figure move quickly and disappeared into the fog as if it was some kind of specter.

SNAP!

Another twig snapped and there in the distance they saw another figure move in and out of the fog. 

SNAP!  SNAP!

Around them there were more and more figures moving in and out of the fog like black ghosts.  Several of the members drew out their guns and their swords getting prepared for whatever was going to come out of that fog to face them or perhaps even kill them, until as they moved ahead, something appeared right in front of them.  It was like the trunk of an enormous tree.  At least that's what they had thought until they looked up and found a face...a human face within a helmet that was crowned with deer's antlers and scraps of fur 

"Ni!"  The figure said

Instantly as if the word was an echo in a cave there were other darkly dressed knights in black armor and fur all saying the same odd word, Ni!  The very sound of that word sent chills up and down their spines.  Even the plants, Vash and Knives couldn't resist but cringe at the very sound of that word.  It made them cringe down to their stomach muscles like licking a lemon or pouring salt on their tongue. 

"Ni!"  The other knights repeated

"Who the hell are you?"  Sano asked holding up his fists trying to hold his ground even though he felt sick to his stomach by hearing that word. 

The tallest of the knights, the one with the deer antlers upon his helmet spoke out, "We are the Knights who say...Ni!"  His voice was very high pitched and almost squeaky like a cartoon mouse but despite that comical voice there was still the fear in the air like that fog.  The fear of what the knights might do, something even worse than uttering that word. 

"No," Jake shook his head in desperate sorrow, "Not the Knights who say Ni."

"The Same!" The tallest knight announced proudly

"What are you?"  Kenshin asked with his hand on the hilt of his sword

"We are the keepers of the sacred words...Ni!...Peng!....and Newong!"

"Newong!"  The other knights repeated as if they were an echo in a cave.

Jake leaned in to tell the others about them, "Those who hear them, seldom live to brag about it."

"Oh great..." Sano moaned

"The Knights who say Ni!"  The tallest Knight declared, "Demand a sacrifice!"

Jake stepped forward and tried to speak reason with the knights, "Knights of Ni" he said, "Have mercy on us, we are only travelers who wish to reach the town of Hilldale to aid in the freedom of our lord and master."

The tallest knight grew a face of irritability like a child pouting over a toy that he hadn't gotten, "Ni!"  He shouted down at Jake, "Ni!  Ni!  Ni!"

"Ni!  Ni!  Ni!"  the other knights repeated after him

The very sound of that word was nothing like any of them had ever experienced.  It was even worse than having nails scratching a blackboard.  The pain stretched through their brains and down through their nerves causing them to bend over in pain and trying to cover their ears to block out the painful sound. 

The tallest Knight rose his hand to stop the attack and Jake with his friends recovered from the after effects of that word, but the knights of Ni weren't finished with them. 

"We shall say, Ni again to you...if you do not appease us."

Jake was desperate to try to help his friends reach the Dark Tower and so he bent to the will of these knights.  "What do you want?"  He asked

"We want..." the tallest knight paused, "A shrubbery!"

The request sounded...ridiculous to all of them.  They even resorted to looking at each other as if to ask, were they for real?  Then again the last few days were very unreal indeed.  The Kenshin Gumi meeting a three headed warrior that argued with itself.  The Peace Guns who met desert dwellers that rode large worms like the tomahs back on Gunsmoke.  Then there was the meeting of one another…and then the Knights who say Ni?  All of them thought that this would be one hell of a story to tell the folks back home. 

"A what?"  Vash asked

"Ni!  Ni!  NI!"  The tallest Knight shouted out while the other knights joined in. 

"Please, please no more!"  Jake pleaded with the knights, "We'll find you a shrubbery."

"You will return here with a shrubbery.  Or else none of you will pass through this forest...ALIVE!" 

"Knights of Ni, you are just and fair.  We will bring you a shrubbery."

"One that looks nice."  The Tallest Knight requested quickly as if it were a last minute item.

"Of course."  Jake agreed

"And not too expensive."  He instructed

"Yes."

"NOW.....GO!"

The Kenshin-gumi, the Peace Guns, and Jake quickly escaped the company of the Knights who say Ni.  Some of them felt terrified out of their minds to know that people like that existed in this place called Mydar.  Even worse, some of them felt humiliated to be brought down by a word. 

"Why couldn't we have just shot them where they stood?"  Knives asked

"Do you think you could have stood up to them saying "NI!"?"  Jake asked

Hearing Jake say Ni made Knives skin crawl, even though he didn't want to admit it, but even he was paralyzed by the sound of that word. 

"Didn't you say that the next town is Hilldale beyond this forest?"  Meryl asked

"Yes."  Jake answered, "But there is a small village just a few miles from here.  Hopefully we'll find a shrubbery for the Knights." 

After a few hours, they had found the town that Jake was talking about.  It wasn't a village that Millie or Meryl had ever seen.  There were straw huts, people in absolute rags, and there was even an old woman beating a cat against a rug. 

"Old woman!"  Jake called out, and the woman came out to meet the young boy.  "Is there anywhere in this village where we could buy a shrubbery?"

The old woman's face cringed and she asked, her voice old and crackling like a piece of dry wood, "Who sent you?"

"The Knights who say Ni!"  Jake said truthfully

The woman's face contorted at the sound of that, "No...Never we have no shrubberies here."

Jake had no choice as far as the matter goes, he had to reach the Dark Tower with the Kenshin Gumi along with the Peace Guns.  With so much on the line he was willing to resort to drastic measures.

"If you do not tell us where we can buy a shrubbery, my friend Sano and I will say..." he looked to Sano hoping that he would back him up on this, "We will say...Ni..."

The old woman cringed again but held her ground, "Do your worst!"  She dared

"Alright, you asked for it, if you will not help us..."  He looked around to make sure that no one was looking for he didn't want to disgrace himself that badly, "Ni!"

The old woman bent over in pain, "No!   Never!  No Shrubs!"

"Ni!"  Jake shouted

"Nu!"  Sano stepped in trying to say the word as best as he could since it really was unusual. 

"No, no."  Jake corrected the gunslinger, "It's not that, its Ni!"

"Nu."  Sano said again in frustration trying to make it sound right

"No, no, you're not doing it right, its Ni!"

"Ni!"  Sano repeated

"That's it you got it!"

"NI!  NI! NI!"  They said together at the old woman as she fell to her knees at the sound of that word.  While behind them the Kenshin-gumi as well as the rest of the Peace Guns were in awe as well as shock at what was going on.  It all seemed so....so...silly.  So mind boggling ridiculous that it seemed that all of this was just some bizarre dream.

"Are you saying Ni to that old woman?"  A man asked from behind.  Jake and Vash turned to look at him.  He was dressed just in the same kind of rags as the old woman, nothing too fancy, just wool and leather to protect him from the elements. 

To his question, Jake could only speak the truth, "Um...yes."

The man shook his head, "Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to old ladies.  There is a curse upon our land ever since our lord was captured, nothing is sacred anymore.  Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress in this period of our history."

"Ruffians..." Sano muttered to himself

"Did you say shrubberies?"  Jake asked

"Yes."  The man answered, "Shrubberies are my trade.  My name is Roger the Shrubber.  I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies"

Sano pounced upon the opportunity, "Ni!"

"No, no, no!"  Jake stepped in.

Within a few hours they were all back deep into the dark forest of Ewin to meet with the Knights of Ni once again with their appeasement. 

"Knights of Ni" Jake approached, "we have brought you your shrubbery.  May we pass through now?"

At the feet of the tallest Knight, was the shrubbery already planted into the ground. 

"It is a good shrubbery."  He said with great glee, "I like the laurels particularly....but there is one small problem."

"Uh-oh."  Kenshin said to himself

"What is the problem?"  Jake asked

"We are now, no longer The Knights who say Ni!" 

"Ni!"  One of the knights shouted out behind him but was quickly silenced. 

"We are now the Knights who say...Ecky...Ecky...Kak-clang, baw, wep, granna, weep, nini, bong!"

"Ni!"  One of the other knights added

"Therefore we must give you a test."

The situation had gone from silly to just plain ridiculous to the minds of the Kenshin-gumi as well as the Peace Guns.  If everything else in this land was as silly as these Knights who say Ni, then it will probably be the weirdest adventure any of them had ever been on.  Especially in the case of Meryl Striffe, filling out the report for the insurance company would be murder. 

"What is this test, knights of..." Jake couldn't bring himself to repeat the silly noises that the tallest knight had uttered, "Knights who formerly said Ni?"

"Firstly..." the tallest knight proclaimed, "You must find...another shrubbery!"

"Shrubbery!  Shrubbery!"  The other knights jumped up and down with great joy at the sound of that word. 

"Not another one."  Vash moaned

"Then..." the tallest knight instructed, "When you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here beside this shrubbery.  Only slightly higher, so we can get the two level effect with a path running down the middle..."

"A path!  A path!  A path!"  The other knights shouted out

"Then after you have done that.  You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest....with....a SALMON!" 

"Salmon!  Salmon!  Salmon!" 

That finally had done it for most of them. 

"Oh, for Christ sake!"  Wolfwood moaned up to the sky as if asking God why such silliness exists in the world. 

"We won't do that!"  Jake declared

"Oh please."  the tallest knight pleaded

"Cut down a tree with a salmon!"  Jake shouted, "It can't be done."

"AHH!"  the knights screamed and shrieked in pain. 

"Don't say that word."  The tallest knight stated

"What word?"  Miss Kaoru asked

"I cannot tell, because it is one of the words he Knights of Ni dare not tell."

"How can we not say the word, if you don't tell us what it is?"

"There's the word again!"  The tallest knight shrieked

"What?  Is?"  Sano asked

"Oh no, we won't go very far in life not saying is."

"Then what is it?"

"Ahh!"  they screamed, "stop saying the word."

The Kenshin Gumi smiled among themselves as well as the Peace Guns since they all knew what was causing them so much pain.  It didn't take too long for Jake to figure it out either. 

"It!"  The all shouted together, "IT!  IT!  IT!  IT!" 

"AHHH!  STOP SAYING THE WORD!"  the tallest knight screamed

'"IT!"

"Oh, he said it again!"  He shouted out, "Wait, I said it... I said it again, and again, ahhhh!" 

"Let's go."  Jake called out as he ran past the Knight of Ni and headed towards the town of Hilldale and back on their path towards the Dark Tower.  Something that the Peace Guns and the Kenshin-gumi were still trying to understand, but then again it didn't matter any more.  Something higher took over, the sense of duty.  The sense that there was something of greater need for them to intervene, but of course there was the need to get back home, but that seemed only secondary to their duties.  It was as if they had been willfully drafted to fight an enemy that they would have no problem in fighting.  It would be there at the Dark Tower of Mydar where they will find it. 

To be continued…


	11. The Wizard

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 11: The Western Group**

**The Wizard **

            Johan had arrived back at the Preventer Ship Relativity with the wagon-train of the Shuffle Alliance's Core Landers behind him.  He wondered about the voices of Julia and Leto coming through the Com and how it was that they got there.  Did they stow away?  Nah, Johan thought, they know better than that, plus how did they know that we were leaving in the first place? 

            On the other hand they were growing up rather fast as children normally do and they had become Gundam pilots…pilots, Johan thought deeply.  Lady Une was the one who ordered that the Preventer Teens Gundams be brought along; did she bring them along as well?  No, for what possible reason?

            Up ahead was the Great Tree with the Relativity next to it, its thick landing pads down and the mobile suit bay door open.  Johan came up the mobile suit bay ramp and parked right next to his Gundam and headed straight for the bridge with the Shuffle Alliance and their families behind him.  They followed Johan passed each deck of the relativity until they came to the bridge, which wasn't a cramped quarter's sort of place.  It was actually quite a spacious like a small ballroom with the windows in 180 degree directions that looked out onto the landscape of this strange land.  Below the windows were the rows of consoles where Preventer officers of lower rank operated them.  In the center of the room, elevated above the floor like a throne was the captain's chair where Lady Une sat.  She looked at the bridge and out the windows, her gaze as vigilant as an eagle or perhaps an owl. 

            Then her gaze turned concerned when she looked at the children who stood in the middle of the room.  They were all there, Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, William Maxwell, Paul Marquise, Kaworu Nagisa, Julia and Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez.  They were all there.

            The door to the bridge opened and in came the Preventer Gundams who had all come back from making the survey of the land around the Relativity.  But there was more, behind Johan was the Shuffle Alliance, a group of Gundam pilots that the Preventers had no seen in over 15 years, since before the Preventer Teens were born.

            Lady Une stood to greet them, "Welcome Shuffle Alliance to the Preventer Ship Relativity."

            "Very impressive."  George commented as he looked around and he saw Trowa Barton his counterpart from the world of the Preventers.  He noticed the same thing that the children of the Shuffle Alliance members saw in the Preventers.  The Shuffle Alliance saw that the Preventers looked as though they had only aged a few years and yet they had teenage children.  It was a very small elephant in the room which was only distracted by a larger issue.

            The Preventers turned to face their children, much in the same way that most parents do when they find their children in places that they shouldn't.

            "What are you doing here?"  Heero asked of Hikaru very coldly

            "Don't be mad at her."  A familiar voice asked.

            Heero looked up and saw his wife, Relena Peacecraft Yuy, standing before him in her pant suit as if she were going to some kind of negotiations between two colonies.  "I know it may sound strange but it seems as if the children as well as a few others and I appeared here."

            "It's true."  Hikaru said, "My friends and I were getting ready for fencing class and then we found ourselves here on the bridge, it's true."

            "She's right, Heero."  Lady Une came down from the Captain's chair, "I witnessed it." 

            Lady Une gave her testimony that only thirty minutes previously she was there on the bridge monitoring activity and reading reports coming in from all over the ship to make sure all was well.  As she sat in her captain's chair reading how the scanners had picked up some life signs, but there were only faint, possibly small animals.  She felt bored by reading so much technical manual-like material that she decided to look out the window for a moment.  As she stared she saw something appear on the bridge, at first it was faint like the outline of a fish at the bottom of a shallow muddy pond.  She had gained apprehension as the images of people became clearer.  They became familiar as well, that was when it had become very clear in that the Preventer Teens as well as Relena had appeared on the bridge of the Relativity.

            "And that was when I called all of you back here."  Lady Une finished

            "That is really hard to believe."  Duo said as he laid his hands behind his head.

            "Do you think that I stowed away, dad?"  William asked in a very uppity and huffy voice

            "Well…"  Duo said in cupping his chin comically

            "I believe it."  Domon stepped in, "I believe it all because the same thing happened to us, our children appeared out of nowhere, and they claim that one minute they were home and the next they were here."

            "Wherever here is."  Chibodee said as he looked out the window and into the strange land that they came to.

            "Yes."  Johan agreed whole heartedly, "I can feel something in this place."

            "How so?"  Rain asked the Gundam pilot in her doctor's curiosity as if asking a patient for symptoms.

            "Well, a few months ago I came in contact with a very unusual gem called the Wizard's Glass and when I did I saw everything in this place that we have come to, the mountains, the trees, rivers, and all else.  I some how feel…no…I know that we were all brought here for a reason…a pretty large one."

            "Hmmm…"  The Preventer Teen Kaworu Nagisa cupped his chin, "I know it too. I feel as though there's something very familiar in this place like…"

            "Coming back to a place from your childhood?"  Quatre finished with a question hoping that it would be the right way to put it. 

            "Yes, that's it exactly."

            "Alright."  Lady Une assumed her authority, "Johan, you say you saw this place in the Wizard's Glass, what do you suggest we do?"

            Johan took a deep breath and thought about what he was going to say as well as how he was going to say it, "I think we should head northeast to that settlement that the sensors found.  We may find some people there who could tell us a little more about this place, but I think we should travel by core lander because I think that there's an enemy here that might want us for very malice reasons." 

            "I couldn't agree more."  Trowa agreed in his military state of mind, "If we do encounter anyone then we will stand a chance in fighting them by calling our Gundams."

            "There is something else."  Johan added, "I think that the children of the Shuffle Alliance should stay here on the Relativity."

            "Why is that?"  Miss Marie Louis asked

            "I feel that it might be dangerous to go out there with our loved ones with us.  Though since we don't know if and how many forces there are out there, then our children should come with us; Hikaru, Paul, William, Kaworu, Julia and Leto."

            "Oh, they can go but we can't?"  Kyoji Kasshu spoke out against this decision

            "Kyoji."  Rain scolded her son

            Yet, Johan couldn't help but laugh, he went over to the little one and knelt down to him and looked him in the eye.  "You really are your father's son; you have that same spirit, but understand this Kyoji Kasshu.  Our children have had mobile suit combat experience which does give an edge to this situation.  Do you understand?"

            Kyoji sulked a little bit, "I guess so."

            In that decision, George DeSand turned to his wife, Marie Louis and spoke to her, "Marie Louis, I want you to stay here with the Children."

            "I know why you want me to stay, George."  She said, "But I wish I could go with you."

            "We don't know what dangers are out there, and I can't bear the thought of loosing you, and I don't think Juliet could stand the thought of loosing her mother."

            "Of course not."  Juliet spoke up

            "Miss Marie Louis may stay here," Relena spoke up, "But I'm going with Heero and Hikaru," She then looked to Heero with a thin smile and a sarcastic look in her eyes, "Despite what you may say." 

            Heero smiled at his wife, "Some things never change about you, Relena." 

            After settling all of the family issues in this, Zechs Marquise spoke up in the discussion, "There is one other thing that we haven't thought of.  This settlement to the northeast, what do we do once we get there?"

            "I'll second with Johan," Quatre supported, "that we ask questions."

            "Good."  Lady Une finalized, "Make reports back to the ship every hour, understood?"

            "Understood."  The Preventer Gundams said in unison. 

            It didn't take very long for the Preventers, Shuffle Alliance, and the Preventer Teens to get into their core landers and head out to the north east.  Towards the settlement that the scanners had picked up and of course there were a few who were very leery as well as skeptical about going there.  After all, no one knows what's there, nor do they even know if the people there were friendly.  All the things that were discussed in the briefing, but at least now most of them didn't have very much to worry about.  That being the Shuffle Alliance didn't have to worry about their families getting involved, their wives and children all back on the Relativity and being cared for.  With the exception of the Preventers, but they knew that if their children could defeat an enemy that had beaten them, then they could do anything. 

            The land around them was just as flat as Johan had reported it to be, just flat grassland, oh there were some rolling hills here and there, but nothing to really get excited about.  It could be very easily compared to driving on a golf course.  There was nothing really exciting, at least around them, but there was something in the distance that they all felt captivated by.  There was a snow capped mountain in the distance with a dense growth for forest coming up to meet it like moss on a still stone. 

            With nothing around for miles around except the golf course-like grassland and the unchanging scenery, it was enough to put several of the Gundams to sleep.  There was something that many of them had learned about from driving, an infliction called "road hypnosis".  IT is where a person can fall asleep at the wheel from seeing much of the same for hours on end.  Several of them had this very affliction and they were trying to distract themselves from falling asleep, which would send their core lander careening into the landscape or into another's lander. 

            Johan was feeling that way when he and the others in the core lander train were coming to the dense growth of forest near the foot of the snow capped mountain.  His head bobbed back and forth, his chin nearly came to his chest when he snapped himself to attention to see it was time to make his voice report back to the Relativity.  He reached down and opened the COM switch. 

            "Relativity" He called, "This is Preventer Star Dragon.  Do you copy?"

            The COM clicked for a moment

            "We read you Star Dragon, go ahead."  The operator's voice answered

            "Making report, the Gundams and I have made no contact with any life out here on the plains.  We are approximately 20 kilometers southwest of the settlement."   Johan paused for a moment thinking about this place and how empty it all was, "Report note:  If this is the only settlement out here then it could be possible that it's abandoned.  If not then why aren't there any other settlements east of the mountain range?"  He ended his report with, "That is all."

            He reached down and turned the COM switch off.  He was slowly being drawn back into the road hypnosis over the golf course plains.  He tried to keep his mind off of it by thinking back to the events onboard the Relativity.  He thought about how he and the other Preventers had armed their own children as if they had been drafted.  In one way they were since they were brought to this place against their will and that their parents were deciding who would stay and who would go.  Thinking of it that way, each parent had confronted their children.  Each giving their own version of asking whether each child was willing to go through it. 

            Even Heero, he who truly loved his daughter, Hikaru, he had ever since the day she was born.  He himself had a deeper sense of why he fought inside Preventer.  He did it to protect the ones he loved:  His wife Relena and his daughter Hikaru. 

            "Are you sure about this?"  Heero asked his daughter as he handed her the belt that had the side arm and a new beam weapon.  It had been the request of Hikaru that she have a new beam weapon.  She wanted a beam bow like Julia's but she wanted it orange. 

            Hikaru took her weapon belt and looked to her fathers face with a smile, "I'll be just fine, dad." 

            So it was that the Preventer Teens were given back their beam weapons and their Gundams.  Johan smiled as he thought about how fast the children had grown up, it felt like it was yesterday that Julia and Leto were sleeping against his chest, or that he and Haruka were carrying them on their shoulders. 

            Suddenly he thought about what if they were to get married sometime in the near future; then that would mean that he and Haruka would soon become grandparents.  Still, he thought, they need to find someone first.

            Johan's eyes dashed to one corner to a stray tree, it stood alone far away from the dense forest that was at the foot of the snow capped mountain in the distance.  It was almost like some lone road sign that was the halfway point between two towns that were miles apart.  It had lush branches which gave incredible shade and it was there that Johan saw a flash of something like seeing a while animal jumping around the bushes. 

            Johan had kept his eyes on the road but he kept looking back to that lone tree and in his second glance he saw it.  Under the trees shade there was a figure.  The distance from the tree did distort the visage of whatever it was but certain features were very clear.  He saw the figre had a stick in his hand like an old man's cane or a hiker's staff and upon that area that he conceived to be the head was a large pointed hat.  It was much like the old time wizards of ancient tales, the kind of stories about handsome knights, damsels in distress, wizards, dragons, swords, and sorcery. 

            With that figure standing under the tree he looked like he was waiting for something or someone.  From it, Johan saw something else in his other hand, something long and thin.  From the shadows of the figure came rings of smoke.

            Johan took the wheel of the core lander and yanked it toward that tree.  He thrust his foot down on the accelerator which sent the core lander speeding to the tree with that figure under it.  Yet in his rush to get to that tree the figure there never bothered to move out of the way for fear of being hit.  Whoever it was just stood there as if expecting either to die or for Johan to stop.

            His friends called him over the COM

            "Where are you going?"

            "Johan stop!"

            The please fell upon deaf ears since Johan's thoughts were focused upon that person under the tree.  He gave no inch to slowing down until he was upon it, which he slammed upon the breaks that sent up clouds of dust and grass.  Even at close range Johan still couldn't see who was under that tree with its shade covering the figures face, but the shapes were very distinctive.  The shape was wizard-like with the pointed hat that was curved backward, the wooden staff in one hand and that thing in the other, which Johan figured out was the wizard's smoking pipe.

            The wizard took one puff from his pop and blew out smoke rings in Johan's direction.  They wafted away from the wizard and broke apart when they hit Johan's chest. 

            "Johan Rodriguez?"  The Wizard asked before he took another puff from his pipe.

            Johan felt stunned since this strange being hadn't introduced himself but called him by his name, "Um…" He uttered, "Yes, that's me."

            "Good."  The wizard puffed out smoke again; the smell of the smoke was so strong and acrid that Johan coughed when he caught one whiff of it.  As he coughed the last of the smoke away from his lungs, he looked back to the wizard who stepped out of the shade of the lone tree.  He was very old, very much like the wizard's of old that Johan had heard about and seen in fantasy paintings.  His face was a network of wrinkles with a long curved nose above his gray beard that reached down the length of his gray robes.  Johan gathered that if the beard went any further, the beard would have probably reached his feet.  His staff looked like a piece that had been selectively pulled from an ancient tree with its twisted parts coming up past the wizards face as if each wooden part were fingers.  He looked down at Johan with his beady eyes and smiled. 

            Behind Johan the others in the Core Lander Train had arrived with the others coming up to meet him.

            "Hey Johan!"  Duo called up to his friend, "What's the big idea?  We have to get to that settlement." 

            The wizard stepped in as he looked down at all the people who were gathering around the tree like an arriving crowd at a rock concert.  "Settlement?"  He asked taking another puff from his pipe, "You must mean Riverden."

            "Is that what's there?"  Johan asked

            "Yes."  The wizard replied, "I can take you there, the Elves there have been expecting all of you."

            "Elves?"  Duo asked

            "The Elves of Riverden."  The wizard replied as he gathered up his cane and stepped away from the tree heading in the same direction as the Core Lander Train, "The king is waiting."

            "Wait."  Johan approached the wizard, "How do they know that we were coming?  And who are you?"

            "I am Gandalf the Gray."  The Wizard replied, "Master Wizard and Guard to the one true King of Mydar." 

            The feeling of real awkwardness had washed completely over the Gundams, somehow everything about this seemed so clichéd.  That they had somehow traveled into some sort of old fantasy novel where there is so much posturing about honor and dishonor between knights of old and wizards who duel with magic that mere mortals only wished to understand.  Yet, there it was, a man who said that he was a Sorcerer.    

            "Mydar?"  Domon repeated, "Is that what this place is?"

            "Yes, it is."  Gandalf replied, "Now, let's head to Riverden, the elves are anxious to meet all of you and there is so much to do."

            None of the Gundams had said a thing, they knew that they were going in that direction, and the wizard did declare in a small way that it was a place that he knew.  What could it hurt for him to come along, at least it was something to make a report on back to the Relativity.  Each of the Gundams took their core lander, while Gandalf the Grey took his seat in the core lander belonging to Johan.  As Gandalf rid along with the Preventer, Johan kept noticing how he was marveling at everything inside the lander.  The panel, the floor, the seats, and even the glass over the cockpit. 

            "You look as though you had never seen something like this."  Johan stated, then the thought to himself, of course he's probably never seen anything like it, and maybe this place is so far into the past that a lighter would seem like magic. 

            "Actually, I have."  Gandalf answered

            The answer shocked Johan, that a man of such old traditions as wizardry would know of such things as core landers.  "What do you mean?" 

            "My master had such crafts thanks to another one of the guards." 

            Johan had to know something, "Do you know why my friends and I have come here?"

            "I do, but now is not the time to tell you.  First all of you must eat and rest, because you and the others are desperately needed in these dark times." 

            The Core Lander Train continued onward towards the snowcapped mountain in the East.  Johan's core lander was in the lead with Gandalf giving directions like a side-seat driver.  For a while there was nothing said between Gandalf and Johan, just to head towards the forest that meets the mountain. 

It was at the edge of the forest, that there was a path that snaked its way into the undergrowth.  Gandalf pointed to it and Johan followed into the path which was wide enough to take in his core lander and soon enough the others followed.  The dense growth of the trees covered them only allowing small patches of light to come through like sunbeams on a cloudy day that were illuminated by the dust that the core landers kicked up.  The trunks of the trees were wide and closely connected, their roots locking together like the fingers of two lovers, and the roots even had even spread into the path.  It was a good thing that the core landers didn't have wheels like the ancient motorcars; otherwise it would have been an extremely bumpy trip. 

The whole time that the Core Lander Train had started on the path through the forest, it felt as if they were going uphill.  There was that gravity pulling feeling back into the seat until the core lander train came to the summit of the hill that they were climbing on the forest path.  One by one they looked down from the summit into a valley. 

In that valley, the forest came to meet the foothills of the mountain like the sea coming to meet the shore.  From somewhere in the mountain was a river that rolled its way down into the valley where the trees stood tall on either side of its banks.  At one point of the river, it took a severe drop where it became a waterfall that drained into valley to make another river that worked it's way though the forest once again.  It was next to the waterfall that they saw it, Riverden.  At first it was hard to see it, but it was there, perched on the side of the banks of the river were the waterfall drained into the valley.  Its walls were stone, but at the same time they mimicked the flow of the tree trunks that sprouted upward and branched to make the artificial canopy. 

They could only see Riverden for a short while before it was hidden again with the thick canopy of trees that covered their path once again. 

"We're almost there."  Gandalf had told Johan

Johan could feel it within himself, something warm, like coming inside to a warm fire after being out in the cold dead of winter.  Yet, the feeling was put aside when an urgent call came through.

"Everyone!"  It was Sai-Saici's voice, "We've got company!  Right behind us!"

"Behind us?"  Johan asked as he reached down for another switch.  This time it was for his rear-view screen.  It functioned much like a read-view mirror but since most of the core lander took up that area, a camera was installed to look in that direction.  What Johan saw was terrifying and hard to figure out.  Between the core landers and the canopy of trees, there were…riders…six of them. 

The riders were sat upon things that rode through the air much like their core landers but they weren't core landers.  Not in the same car-type style that the Gundams had, the ones that these riders were upon were like motorcycles.  Each one of them black and silver, sleek and shining like the barrel of a long shotgun polished to high gloss.  The riders upon these flying-cycles were dressed in black, long black robes that flapped in the wind, but amazingly enough their hoods stayed on which covered their faces.  The only thing that showed through those hoods was that glow, twin red eyes that burned with unholy fury. 

Johan looked to Gandalf whose beady eyes went wide he turned to Johan, "Drive faster."

With that Johan opened the COM Link, "All Gundams!  Floor it!"  And Johan threw his feet against the accelerator which sent him and Gandalf into the cushioned backs of their seats.  While Johan's concentration sharpened to that of a surgical knife looking for turns in the road.

Left

Right

Right

Left

Right

Until there was a break in the trees and they had found a river, the thought of how deep the water was never occurred to Johan until he crossed it and continued on the forest path to Riverden.  He never looked into the rear view monitor again until a split second later Sai-Saici called again.

"Hey, they've stopped."  Johan looked into his rear view screen and saw that the Core Lander Train behind him had stopped.

"Stop the lander."  Gandalf ordered

Johan followed and the lander stopped dead in its tracks as the cockpit glass of the lander opened and Gandalf the Gray hopped out.  Driven by the desire to know what was going on back at the river, Johan got out and made sure he was armed and read to fight.  Just like all those times in battle when he wanted to be sure that he was armed to the teeth to face his enemy.  He came down the path his hand at his beam saber and looked out on the river bank and he saw the riders in black floating on the other side never moving. 

One of them spoke, "Give us the Gundams, Wizard!"

Gandalf took his staff and pointed its head at the riders, "If you want them so bad come and get them yourself if you're able!"

The riders slowly inched their way into the water as Gandalf the Gray raised his staff up to the sky and began to utter something.  All of the Gundams listened to what he was saying, but none of it made sense, it was a language none of them had ever heard.  The words sounded so fluid like water rushing into one another and the voice he used to speak it was like he was singing in a tenor's voice.  Their attention was drawn away from the language that Gandalf was using when above them they saw the sky darken very quickly.  The clouds that were once white merged with one another, and then grew thicker and darker until all of the sun was blocked out.  Above them they heard the rumbling of thunder and arcs of lightning that light up the sky for only flashes of instants.    

Gandalf's voice grew louder as he raised his staff to the sky and a lightning bolt came down from the heavens to touch it and like the swipe of a sword, he swished the staff at the riders, sending out the arcs of lighting against them.  Every one of them began to shake with the electricity going through them and the sheer power of the lightning burning away their black robes.  With their robes burning away the Gundams could see what they were underneath their robed disguises.  They were machines, metallic skeletons upon those flying-cycles with only red camera lenses for eyes.  The lightning that Gandalf had sent at them illuminated their metallic design showing off their metallic bones.  So eerily human that many of the Gundams felt ill just looking at the atrocities.

With only a few seconds of contact with the lighting, the metallic riders fell into the river along with their bikes at its side.  As the bikers sunk to the bottom of the river, the Gundams looked back up to the sky and saw the dark clouds begin to dissipate like a strong wind blowing the storm far away.

"What the hell were those things?"  Duo asked

Gandalf brought his staff back to its resting position against this shoulder and leaned against one of the core landers.  "They were once warriors."  He explained, "Great warriors of Mydar, until one day they were offered the chance to become immortal and infinitely powerful.  On that day they gave over their flesh and blood for metal and electricity.  They became lost souls, the Techno Wraiths, they no longer think for themselves.  They only obey what their programs tell them to do and that program was to hunt all of you down."

"Alright!"  Chibodee started up, "Why don't you cut the bullshit old man and tell us what all this is about?"

"Calm down, young one."  Gandalf advised, "There's no need to get angry.  All will be explained, Riverden is just up the hill." 

Chibodee wasn't the only one who was angry about all this.  Most of the Gundams were damn near infuriated by all of this.  They've come to a place that they don't understand, confronting shit that rivals that of their greatest fears, and even worse their families had been dragged into it.  So, they did have a right to know the answers and it seemed to them that Gandalf had them but wasn't going to give it to them.  That was the most infuriating part to them of all of it.  At least most of them except Johan, he was the most passive about this, either because he has the patience for it or because of that Wizard's Glass that showed him this place called Mydar. 

The Gundams got back into their core landers and headed up the hill to Riverden. 

It was only up the hill when the Core Lander Train had finally arrived at Riverden.  It was such a quaint little place.  Only from the distance of the previous hill that they were on before crossing the river could they only see a little bit of it.  Yet, in coming to the enormously elaborately carved wooden gates did they see Riverden in a more personal light.  The gates themselves never looked artificial in any way; the craft that had made this Elvish place had made it blend right into the stones of the slopes as well as the trunks of the trees.  All of Riverden looked as if nature had created the fair city and the elves only came to live there within the past few thousand years.

The wooden gates of Riverden had opened and there waiting on the other side of the gates were the elves waiting for them.  They weren't the cute little ones that the Gundams had thought of.  The stereotypical kind that work with Santa at the North Pole, these Elves were tall, elegant, beautiful, both men and women of this race.  It was absolutely incredible to the eyes of the Gundams that such beautiful people actually exist. 

Some of them were speaking that language amongst themselves.  It was the very same language that Gandalf had used when he dealt with the Techno Wraiths at the river.  It seemed as if the language was in a singing voice.  The language was just so beautiful when the Elves spoke it the trees seemed to echo with the language as well as the songs of these elves. 

Standing in front of the crowd of elves that welcomed the Gundams was a tall elf that had a crown of golden lace upon his head.  He was dressed in long brown and white robes that met the ground that was a scatter of leaves.  His long brown hair stretched past his shoulders and he looked out at the Gundams with deep blue eyes that seemed to pierce them with it's gaze.  Yet, he smiled. 

"Welcome Gandalf."  He called out to him, "And to your guests, Welcome to Riverden."

"Lord Hyrule."  Gandalf bowed

"Before we move to any business I'm sure all of you must rest after such a long journey."  King Hyrule had declared.

"No way!"  Chibodee stepped forward, "I demand to know what the hell is going on."

"Please be calm, Chibodee Crocket."

"Hey, how'd you know my name?"

"All shall be explained in due time, but first rest and then we shall feast."

"Well, I'm never one to turn down an offer like that."  Duo smiled

"Then it's settled."  Hyrule agreed, "We shall discuss business after you have rested and eaten."

            With the Gundams being shown to their own rooms within the house of Hyrule in the Elvish town of Riverden, there was some discussion being held between Gandalf the Gray and his old time friend, King Hyrule.  The two of them had met in his library that had a balcony that looked to the waterfall and oversaw all of Riverden.  The library itself was so open to the outside that there was practically no glass for windows.  The spring time weather came in through it all and warmed the library, which was strewn with bookshelves along the walls, old books containing ancient knowledge of the Elves. 

            Gandalf and Hyrule looked down at Riverden from the balcony in thought, until one of them broke the ice.

            "So, it is finally happened."  Hyrule said, "Our lord and master has summoned an army to Mydar."

            "Yes, but they can only be a piece of the army that he has brought."

            "Gandalf."  Hyrule said sternly, "If our master has summoned all he can to Mydar, then our enemies must know about it already.  As you've told me the Techno Wraiths were already upon you when you crossed the River Snake, we must act quickly before they send reinforcements." 

            "They cannot go just yet, they still need to take something back to our master."

            "I am aware of that, which is why when you told me that you spotted their ship near the Great Tree on Marty's Plain, I sent for the one who carries it."

            "When will he arrive?"

            "Possibly during the feast, if he's late…as usual."

            The feast that night in the dinning hall of the house of Hyrule was wonderful.  All of the Preventers, Shuffle Alliance, and their families sat down and ate the Elvish cuisine.  It was actually nothing like what they had ever eaten before, but one thing was definitely for certain, there was not a single piece of meat in the dinner.  Then again, it only occurred to some of the more steak-eating types at first (such as Chibodee, his son Champ, Duo and his son William), but the cuisine was so good that it was forgotten.  Even the culinary expert Sai-Saici was overjoyed when he ate it. 

"This is wonderful" he said to the king.  "I don't know what you've put into it but it's just wonderful."

            "Thank you, Sai-Saci."  The King bowed his head

            There was one other person that they had met at that dinner table; it was a young and very beautiful woman.  Her shinning sandy blonde hair was longer than Hyrule's, it flowed down past her shoulders to her waist.  The eyes that she had were a shade of blue that reminded the most poetic of the group of diamonds; she had blue diamonds for those kinds of eyes.  She didn't even have to speak and she already entranced some of the men of the Gundams.  At least for a moment and some of them had remembered that they were married.  So they were introduced, King Hyrule had told them that she was his daughter, Zelda. 

            As the dinner had progressed and the minstrels played their Elven songs, the king himself looked out to the balcony to see that the sun had already set and nightfall had already arrived.  "He's late" He muttered

            "Who's late?"  Trowa asked

            The King explained, "When I heard of your arrival I had sent for the best Elvish Warrior in Mydar; Link."

            "Alright."  Chibodee had slammed his fist upon the table that sent several plates rumbling through the oak table, "You said that you'd explain what was going on around here, I think we've waited long enough to hear an explanation." 

            "Show some more respect to Lord Hyrule!"  Gandalf demanded

            "There's no need for that Gandalf."  Hyrule had said with such a gentle hand, "They have been through quite an ordeal and I believe that they need an answer.  Firstly, I knew all of your names from Gandalf, who found out about your arrival through his powers of magic, but the reason why all of you are here is this…"

            Before Hyrule could say anything, the doors to the dinning hall burst open and there in the middle of it was a tall Elvish man with shortly cut blonde hair and greenish eyes that matched his tunic as well as his hat that was more looked more like a sleeping cap.  Crisscrossing his chest was the belt for quiver filled with arrows that could be seen over his right shoulder.  While going the other direction was the string of a bow whose arch could be seen over his right shoulder.  At his side was the belt for his sword, whose handle was purple and elegantly carved.  And upon his right arm was a large shield, which could have easily covered his whole body from an attack if he crouched down far enough into its curvature. 

            Lord Hyrule stood, "It's about time you arrived, Link.  I hope that you don't mind that we started the feast without you."

            "It's no trouble Lord Hyrule."  Link had said with an exhausted breath, "I had run into some trouble while going past the Misty Mountains."

            "What kind of trouble?"

            "Wraiths, but I took care of them."  He looked at the dinner table at the Preventers as well as the Shuffle Alliance, "Are these them?"

            "Yes they are."  Gandalf answered Link's question

            "Then I suggest that we move quickly."

            "Finally!"  Chibodee cheered, "Someone's in the mood to get things going."

            "Very well."  Hyrule said as he continued to stand at the head of the dinner table, "Preventers and Shuffle Alliance, follow me please." 

            After the arrival of the Elvish Warrior Link, the Shuffle Alliance had dismissed their children to bed, while the Preventers and the Preventer Teens followed Hyrule, Link and Gandalf to an unknown part of Hyrule's house.

            They came to a place that could have only been described as a stone patio.  It was open to the outside air that was blowing cool gentle breezes as the as the sun set over the mountains sending down its golden rays onto the town of Riverden.  At the head of this patio was a stone altar that Lord Hyrule stood behind as the Gundams took their seats in a great half-circle of chairs around the stone altar and so the meeting began. 

            "Friends of both old and new, you've been summoned here to answer against the Scourge of Mydar.  All of your paths lead to this singular fate."  Hyrule said like a preacher standing at his wooden podium at mass, "For those of you who don't know the story of our land, I shall tell it.  Many, many ages ago, our lord and master had created the lands of Mydar from the fruits of his labors and imagination.  He ruled our lands for centuries with grace, wisdom, and justice.  Yet, it was his grace that brought about the greatest blight that our lands would ever know. 

"From a place that none in Mydar know, came a legion of men, women, and creatures unlike any had laid eyes upon.  They came to see our lord and he opened the doors of his great tower to them, but he was deceived.  For these devious creatures called the Obsessed, lead by their lord Dark Eagle, ransacked our masters tower wanting nothing more than to take his power and use it for their own selfish reasons.  They turned our lords Ivory Tower into a black shell of its former glory.    

"It was from the moment that our lord had opened his doors to these despicable creatures the fate of our lands had been sealed.  Realizing that the Obsessed wanted his power, our master has split his power into seven separate items and scattered them across the lands of Mydar.  It is this reason why our master has opened the doors to allow all of you here; to free him from his captors.  All of you are bound to this duty."

            There was a long pause until a question was asked by Leto Rodriguez, "You mentioned seven separate items.  Do you know what they are?"

            "As a matter of fact, Leto son of Johan, we have one of them, but one of you must take it back our master and it has already chosen its bearer."  Hyrule looked to his warrior Link, "Bring forth the sword, Link."

            The Elvish warrior obeyed his king and brought out a very special looking sword from his side and placed it upon the stone podium.  All looked upon it in amazement.  It was beautiful, a wooden handle that was curved to fit the flow of a human hand.  The blade shaped like a katana curving upward.  All over the sword it was adorned with gold thread that seemed as if it was embedded into the sword itself.  Gold strands curving, intertwining, and joining all the way from the bottom of the handle to the tip of the blade.  The ones closest to the sword could even see writing upon the blade in that same gold that those strands were made of.  It was a language none of them could read but were naturally curious what it said. 

            "Lord Hyrule" Domon spoke up, "if I may, what is so special about this sword?"

            "You see Domon, King of Hearts."  Hyrule explained, "The sword itself is a piece of our masters' power.  It has such power that it is said that it could kill a demon and could slice through the strongest metal as if it was straw, but there is something all of you should be aware.  For the reason that the sword is in essence a piece of our master, it has a mind of its own, its bearer was Link who had found it implanted in a stone at the peak of the Misty Mountains.  Now, its new bearer will be…"  Hyrule raised his hand and extended one of his long fingers and brought it over to the area where the Preventers sat.  His finger, like the ball on a roulette wheel ready to land on any random number, landed upon one Gundam pilot.

            "You…Johan son of Han" Hyrule said, "The sword has spoken to Link who had told me this.  It has said that you shall be its carrier to the Dark Tower.  This mission will not be easy, the road is long and it is not without peril.  The Dark Tower itself is guarded by more than just the Obsessed.  The land there that was once beautiful is now a wasteland, filled with fire and ash.  And the Eye of the Hawk is always watching.  Will you take this burden, Gundam pilot?"

            Johan sat in his chair completely floored by the enormity of what was going on before him.  Only a few hours ago did him and his friends arrive in a place that Johan had only read about in books.  Still, he felt that pull, that call that the Wizard's Glass had burned into him all that time ago when the Lupin crew came to his universe.  That feeling itself had only grown ten-fold since coming into this place called Mydar. 

            He rose out of his seat and walked over to the stone podium and looked down at the sword.  It seemed so beautiful in his eyes, unlike any that he had seen in all his years of looking at swords.

            "I will take it."  Johan spoke as he reached out to take the sword for himself and to carry it to the Dark Tower.  In his hand the sword began to change.  Its shape and beauty had changed from its elegant and gold embodied design.  It became a new sword right before the eyes of Johan and his friends.  It was no longer that sword that the Elvish warrior brought to the stone podium.  The sword became a katana with a new handle.  Johan saw that its handle looked as purely white as ivory and engraved into that ivory was a dragon.  A Chinese dragon that had wrapped its body around the handle of the sword while in its hand it held spheres that must have been jewels from a pirate's treasure.  Johan saw that it was as beautiful as before but in such a different form.

            "What the hell just happened?"  Chibodee Crocket asked gazing at the sword in Johan's hands

            "As I said before" Hyrule reiterated, "the sword has a mind of its own and it seems that it changed it form to suit its bearer." 

            "If the sword has chosen me" Johan proclaimed as he looked up and down at it, "then I will take it to the Dark Tower."

            "If Johan is going, then I'll go with him."  Haruka spoke out as she rose out of her seat to join her husbands' side

            "That goes for us too!"  The twins spoke up and joined their father. 

            "Thank you all."  Johan smiled

            "You will need other help."  Gandalf the Gray volunteered, "The path shall not be an easy one and I shall come with you to free my master.  My magic is at your disposal."

            "I agree."  Link said, "You have my sword and bow to aid you in this mission."

            Johan looked to his friends and his best friend, Duo Maxwell stood up, "20 years and I've never backed away from helping you, buddy.  I'm in."

            "I will join you too."  Wufei stood by Johan, "To deliver justice to the unjust."

            "One should never give up until the end."  Trowa stood, "That is what Heavyarms taught me."

            "I'm definitely in."  Quatre joined the support but then turned to the Perfect Soldier, "What about you Heero?"

            Heero looked to Johan, "You know me." 

            The two of them paused and said in one united voice, "Mission accepted."

            "And you have the help of the Shuffle Alliance."  Domon volunteered showing his fist that burned with the crest of the King of Hearts

            "Yes, that's true."  Chibodee said to the Elvish king, "You do need people of strength and intelligence on this…mission…quest…thing."

            "Well that puts you out, Chibodee."  Duo whispered

            Johan laughed, "Well my friends and family, we are The Fellowship of the Gundam once again!"

            "TO THE FELLOWSHIP!"  The Preventers and Shuffle Alliance had said in unison. 

To be continued…


	12. The Beast Master

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 12: The Northern Group**

**The Beast Master**

            The night was very unbearable to the Senshi and Evangelions.  It was hard to sleep in a cold dark place, but with the rain beating down the night before, they really had no other choice.  The first one to awaken that morning was Shinji Ikari, who went to the mouth of the cave to see that the rain had stopped and there was a cloud of mist rising from the plains and springs with the morning sun coming overhead.  He took in a very deep breath and smelled the morning air, so fresh and cool.  Cool…it wasn't like how it was back in Tokyo-3, where it was warm a lot of the day, then again, why would he want to think about that place again?  Everything was dead back there, no one existed anymore, at least existed on a physical level.  He tried to not think about it and headed back inside the cave to wait for everyone to wake up. 

            Then suddenly he felt something, a prick in his mind.  Not his brain like a sharp head ache, like a feeling of presence somewhere else.  Shinji, who had been alone most of his life would generally know when there would be someone else in the room with him.  Hearing their breath and almost feel them taking up the space behind him.  That was what he was feeling, yet it was deeper than that, the presence he felt was familiar…like he had met it somewhere before.  Yet, it was only a sharp instant when it came upon him, but it vanished like a dream that he would try to remember as he brushed his teeth in the morning.  He went back inside to be with the others as they woke up. 

            He sat down and was about to put on his headphones for his walkman but then remembered that the batteries were dead.  So, he resorted to trying to remember those song lyrics in his head once again.  He tried to sing them in his head, but yet again repeating things in one's mind is nothing like hearing it.

            _Is this the real life?_

_            Is this just fantasy?_

            More of the song was lost since he came to this place.  He thought to himself that he would give anything to have another set of batteries for his player.  In the quiet of the caver Shinji sat down upon a rock and looked into the fire.  Until there was a stirring, Shinji looked and with the light that was coming into the cave he saw that it was Rei Hino who was waking up.  She got up and dusted off the ceremonial kimono that she was wearing and looked to Shinji.

            "Good morning."  She smiled, despite the fact that her hair was a mess and her kimono was covered in dirt.  She walked to the mouth of the cave and out into the place where the springs lay.  Shinji was about to ask what she was going to do, but his mind was smarter than that so he knew what she was going to go do. 

            Only a few minutes later did Rei come back into the cave trying to adjust her hair as she sat down next to Shinji Ikari. 

            Shinji looked at her and wondered why she did such a thing but then again he was out of his element and so too were they.  He knew full well that he could no longer shut anyone out, not this time since they need one another to survive in this place.  His stomach rumbled, but thinking about surviving made him hungry and images of things like toast and coffee made it even worse.  He clenched his stomach hoping that he could sooth the pain.

            "You're feeling hungry aren't you?"  Rei asked

            "Yes."  Shinji answered with a small grunt and then there was silence in the cave.  Until Shinji had to break the ice again, "Why do you think we were brought here?"

            "I don't know."  Rei answered curiously, "What happened to us was that I went to an old tree at my temple.  I placed my hand to it and fell through, before I knew it I was in this place and my friends were with me."

            "I simply fell asleep and found myself here with Asuka and Misato."

As Rei spoke with Shinji, she could feel the deep pain within Shinji Ikari like a lost soul or an angry spirit that refuses to rest.  She was about to say something to Shinji to try to bring him around but something caught her attention. 

            Rei looked to where the fire used to be the night before, and she couldn't explain what her mind was sensing.  It was hard to relate it to something else because there was no other experience in her life that could have compared to it.  No analogy or simile that could explain it.  It was just there right in front of her saying, "Hello, I'm here." 

            She reached her hand out as if she were reaching for a doorknob to where the fire used to be, which only had coals, and ashes there, and with a great spark a flame appeared in the middle of the remains of the firewood.  It flickered and danced with its resources below it like the flame on a match that was burning down its stick.  She then turned her hand around as if she were holding precious water that she was to drink from a desert oasis.  With her hand cupped the dancing flame jumped as if it were a diver off of a high platform and into Rei's hand where it stayed, never touching her or burning her skin.  It was there like a faerie in the forest that she was inviting to come closer. 

            Shinji felt shocked by this, "That's amazing."  He said with great awe, "How did you do that?"

            Rei stared deep into the flame as it danced and she herself couldn't figure it out in any way, "I don't know." 

            It was within a matter of an hour and the morning sun had already come up over the mountains illuminating the plains with the hundreds of springs beyond that the Senshi along with Asuka and Misato woke up.  They did it slowly one by one, and of course the last one to awaken was Usagi.  It was funny how someone so energetic could sleep so much, then again that was Usagi summed up.  Sometimes her life did seem to be like a dream, but she needed to wake up because of what Rei had discovered. 

            Seiya knelt down and shook her, "Usagi…Usagi." 

            Usagi stirred, "Just let me sleep a few more minutes' mom."      

            Seiya couldn't help but smile at this young girl at such innocence that she had, but it wasn't the time for such things.  He shook her again, "Usagi, it's time to get up.  We have to get going."

            Usagi sat straight up as if she had been shocked into position, "I'm late for school!"  She said but then looked around the cave and came back down from panic.  "So, it wasn't a dream."

            "I'm afraid not."  Seiya said as he offered Usagi his hand to get back up to her feet. 

            As Usagi took Seiya's hand she was rubbing the sand out of her eyes but then clenched her stomach, "I'm hungry."  She said very quietly. 

            "I know."  Seiya said, "So am I." 

            "Everyone."  Rei called out to the group, "I've discovered something."

            "What is it, Rei?"  Makoto asked with curiosity while still rubbing the sand out of her own eyes. 

            Rei held out her hand and with a flash of light, the flame appeared in her hand.  Just like in that early morning hour that she had shared with Shinji, the flame had danced and flickered in Rei's hand is if it were the depths of a camp fire.  In the glow of the fire in that dark cave, Rei could see the amazement of all the Senshi and the Evangelions.  They were like children seeing a magician perform his tricks for their smiles and applause.  It wasn't just holding it in her hand that Rei did, she also allowed the flame to dance from one hand to the other like a master juggler.  Until at last the flame landed back in her hand and she closed it.  Then opened it back up to show that she had extinguished the fire as well. 

            "Incredible."  Misato said with surprised awe, "could you do that before?"

            "No."  Rei answered, "You see we could only manipulate our own elements when we are in our Senshi forms.  It's only recently that I've been able to manipulate it without transforming."

            "So, if I'm following your logic right."  Ami postulated, "Then that means in coming to this place our powers have been increased to a certain extent."

            "Exactly."  Rei complied

            As the discovery was going on, Minako clenched her hand to feel the warmed up metal of the ring that she had found the night before.  She did find it but she wasn't about to show it off just yet.  It wasn't that she was selfish (although she did act it a couple of times), it was more along the lines of the fact that she was concerned about this new development.  The fact that Rei could manipulate fire without even being transformed into a Senshi, could this mean that the others have had this blessing?  And what about the Evangelions, had they been given special powers too?

            "At least with this," Rei pointed out to the others, "we have a way to start camp fires."

            "Do you think the rest of us have a similar power?"  Haruka asked

            "I'm thinking so."  Rei acknowledged, "But that is something that will remain to be seen."  
            "This is a fascinating discovery" Misato agreed, "But right now our top priority is to try to find some kind of civilization."

            "My previous scans found a small settlement to the East of here."  Ami informed the Major

            "Then let's get going."

            "Why do we have to go now?"  Usagi asked almost whining

            "Because it's not going to do us any good by staying here" Misato stated as she, Shinji, and Asuka headed toward the mouth of the cave and down the slopes of the hill.  The Senshi quickly saw their point and joined in their trek across the unknown land. 

            They had trekked for hours across the unknown land with the mountains that stretched ever onward to their left while there were the infinite springs to their right.  Though the trip became even more arduous when they became thirsty from the long trip, but that wasn't the worst part of it all.  Since neither the Senshi or the Evangelions carried any water, Usagi and Minako had the brilliant idea that they could drink from one of the countless springs that were all around them. 

            "Like the poem says," Usagi tried to quote to validate her point, "Water, water everywhere, so let's have a drink."

            The two of them went to the edge of one of the springs, seeing the crystal clearness of it.  They were both swimming in the idea of lapping all the water that they could drink and lavishing in the idea of swimming in them.  They knelt to the side of the spring, their mouths open, dry, and ready to lap all of the water the spring had to give them in one gulp.  Yet, before they could even come close to one inch of the waters surface they were yanked away from it and onto their backs. 

            They looked up to see that it was Rei.

            "What'd you do that for?"  Minako asked very testy about what had just happened

            "I told you two not to drink from the springs!"  Rei scolded them both like an angry mother.

            "But we're so thirsty, Rei!"  Usagi whined

            "Listen to me," Rei refuted, "There's something very wrong with these springs, do not drink or go in them.  Ever." 

            Of course, Usagi was never one to suffer quietly, but Minako on the other hand had just pouted quietly. 

            All of them continued onward towards the East, while the sun was beginning to slowly set behind him like a friend that had said good bye. 

            Misato stopped to look back at the setting sun, "It'll be dark soon," she announced to the others, "We should make camp."

            With that, several members of the Senshi as well as the Eva pilots Shinji and Asuka went to look for stones to circle the fire and pieces of wood for it.  Oddly enough, there were a few sparse trees that specked the places between the springs and some pieces of dead wood that were lying among the wild grass. 

            They had all brought the wood and stones back to the place that they had called their camp site and constructed the fire.  It was only Rei who provided the actual flame for the wood to start with.  They all had sat silently around the camp fire, each of them lost in their own thoughts about what's happened to them. 

            It may have seemed like they were thinking about it too much, but really, how would anyone else react to a similar situation?  It wouldn't do any good to run around screaming, "What are we going to do?"  Even though a few members of the Senshi felt like doing just that to let loose some of the internal tension. 

            "Ami."  Misato called from across the camp fire

            "Yes?"  Ami answered

            "How far away from the settlement are we?"

            Ami pulled out her computer and looked at her readings with tired eyes, "I estimate that it's about three days away from here if we continue to travel on foot, but the likeness of finding some kind of transportation seems very minimal."

            "Oh, I wish it were closer."  Usagi moaned

            "Now, now Usagi."  Luna spoke up, "There's nothing we can do about it now except progress onward."

            The cat Luna did survey the members of their odd fellowship and couldn't help but see the deep through look on the face of Shinji Ikari.  She leapt down from Usagi's lap and walked over to Shinji who was looking deeply into the flames of the camp fire. 

            "What are you thinking of, Shinji?"  She asked the Eva pilot

            Shinji looked down at Luna, he was shocked the night before with the prospects of talking cats when she and Artimus spoke in the palaver that the Evangelions and the Senshi had.  But Shinji had come to accept the bizarre things that were happening all around.  After all, Misato had appeared to him when he thought that she was dead. 

            He spoke to the cat, "I don't know, but ever since I came here I've felt a presence." 

            "A presence?"  Asuka asked, "What are you babbling about Third Child?"

            "It's difficult…to explain."  Shinji tried to grasp the words, "As if there's something or someone else here in this land that I've met before."

            "It could just be déjà vu."  Luna offered her rational council

            "No."  Shinji shook his head, "It feels much deeper than that.  It feels like…"

            "Shh!"  Haruka interrupted Shinji's thoughts

            All attention then shifted quickly to Haruka Tenou who had a very unusual look on her face.  The only time that the other Senshi had seen that look on her face and in her eyes was when she was getting ready for a battle.  Staring down and sizing up her opponent to see if they could stand up against her strength. 

            "What is it, Haruka?"  Michiru asked

            "Does anyone else hear that?"  She asked as she cupped her hand to her ear to listen to what her ears were detecting above the roar and crackling of the camp fire.  She heard it just after the fire started, at first it was only faint like hearing the engine of a high speed car that was coming closer and closer on a long stretch of road. 

            At first the sound was just a rustle, like the wind blowing through the grass on a cool summer's eve.  Then it became repetitive, like the flapping of wings.  Not extremely fast like the wings of a humming bird or a sparrow, it was more like something bigger as the seconds progressed and the sound came closer.  It sounded like a thumping kind of sound when trying to spread a bed sheet over a bed, flapping it over the bed so that it would come down evenly upon the mattress.  That's what the sound was like to Haruka's ears. 

            With the sound growing louder and louder, Haruka began to look up to the sky as well as upon the ground to find whatever it was that was coming closer.  Her blood was pumping faster and harder than any vibrations of any race car that she had felt.  She reached down into her suit pocket and pulled out her transformation pen as did the other Senshi, even the Starlights pulled out their transformation devices, their microphones. 

            All of the Senshi and Evangelion were taking after Haruka in that they were looking up to the sky and looking all directions with the low light of the setting sun coming closer and closer to night.  Yet, they didn't see anything at all, but Haruka saw something.

            It was toward the East that she saw something in the sky.  It was a dot when her eyes had locked upon it like the targeting system in a fighter plane.  It came closer and closer, and her eagle eyes were beginning to map out the shapes of whatever it was that was heading towards them.  She gripped onto her transformation pen even tighter ready to speak the words that would transform her into Sailor Uranus.  Though in the back of her mind she thought about something very apt, which was that if Rei could manipulate her element (fire) then could she manipulate the wind? 

            There was no time to think of such things since the sound was as loud as could be with its rustling flap-flap noise and the shape against the darkening night sky was something that Haruka, the rest of the Senshi, and the Evangelions were trying to grasp. 

            Some of them had heard stories about people seeing monsters in forests as well as upon lakes.  The thing that was in the sky was just like one of those kinds of monsters.  They couldn't see any detail because of the setting sun and the night sky against it, but it's outline was very distinct.  It had a very long neck and a tail that stretched out behind it and upon either side of it were wings that were flapping up and down like those of a bat.  Last of all underneath it there were things that they could only describe as claws.  Seeing the outline of it, they were frozen in fear, all of them, even with the terrible experiences that most of them have had in facing horrible monsters.  None of them were like that thing in the sky and just when they thought it couldn't get worse…it did.

            The thing in the sky had moved it's neck and it was coming down at them. 

            "Get ready"  Haruka said as she uttered her transformation command, "Uranus Planet Power!"

            "Neptune Planet Power!"

            On and on it went through all of the Senshi, Pluto, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and the Starlights, Fighter, Healer, and Maker.  The Evangelions couldn't help but watch them all transform as they had heard them speak of it the night before.  It was incredible to Shinji when he saw all of their clothes just evaporate off of their bodies while they were being replaced with new ones.  Colored skirts, bows, gems, and tiaras for them all, but that wasn't the end of it. 

            The event that really amazed Shinji as well as Misato and Asuka were the Starlights.  They watched when their clothes evaporated they could see their male forms.  Their thin waists and slightly built torsos, but all of that changed when their gaunt and angular masculine features began to curve.  Like a bent piece of wire being pulled into a curve, the boys that were named Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki were changing.  Their chests growing larger and developing breasts and their hips becoming rounder, and even their faces were becoming tender and delicate.  It didn't take too long for them to realize the obvious that they were becoming women. 

            The only thing that took their attention away from the gender changing boys was the monster that was coming down to the ground.  The transformed Senshi and the Evangelions looked with the light of their campfire at what the monster was.  There was no other word for it, and only one word for what it was.  It was a dragon, an honest to God dragon. 

            It's long neck snaking across the grass like a snake, while its head was large horned, eyes that had slits in them like those of a lizard, and a mouth that opened to show rows upon rows of teeth like knives in some mechanical atrocity.  Its great body scaled with thick places that could easily be used as shields if some one were to take one of them off and they worked their way down to its tail that was bladed like a medieval mace.  The great skinned and leathery wings that were once spread out to show the faint signs of the bones that supported them were then folded up on either side of the dragon.  Underneath each wing were things that the Senshi and Evangelions could only think of as bags.  There were three on each side of the dragon, all of them were large, pouch-like, and most of all leathery, looking nothing like the scaly body of the dragon itself.  Its claws were digging into the Earth when it landed but it then it stood upward like a dog going back onto its hind legs.  Its forward claws off the ground like a bipedal animal.  The leathery bags that it had upon itself fell to the ground in one large thump.  Yet, the dragon never gave it any second thought; he did it as if he wanted to set it down in the first place.    

            The creature looked down upon the Senshi and oddly enough it was smiling down at them.  Yet, it wasn't malicious; it was friendly like a man who was meeting someone that he had not seen in a long time. 

            "You've all come."  The dragon spoke to them

            The Senshi and Evangelions froze in place where they were, seeing a real live dragon was shocking enough, but to see and hear it speak to them directly, and in such a manner…it seemed too much to take in one day.  

            The dragon himself, his face seemed to take on an expression amongst the numerous scales that surrounded it.  The expression seemed to show some concern, or perceiving something amongst his newly acquired friends. 

            "I apologize for coming to you in this form," He apologized in bowing his head, "hold on a moment."  He stood up upon his hind legs and raised his arms to the sky and spread his wings and he changed.  He changed in the same way that the three boys changed into their female forms.  The numerous scales upon the dragons' body seemed to merge into one like ice cubes melting into one puddle.  The scales all became one piece all over the dragons' body, while the tail and wings retracted into his body as if they were made of wax that were melting into his body.  His neck growing shorter and shorter like a power antenna retracting back to its original position and the dragons' face that was once horned and had reptilian eyes was becoming human.  The eyes were forming white corneas, black pupils within irises that had a dirty shade of blue to them and the horns growing thin and fine like hair that blossomed from his head, hair that was the shade of sand. 

            It was there right before the campfire that the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelion watched as a great winged dragon had transformed himself into a man.  Not just any man, it was the very same man that Shinji Ikari had seen in his dream. 

            _We will need people you, Shinji Ikari…You and all your friends._

            "It's you."  Shinji uttered as they saw that the man who was the dragon was very naked.  He covered himself as he went to the large leather bags that were the size of small cars compared to him, the Senshi, and Evangelions.  He reached into one and began to dress himself in clothes that seemed as if they were made out of animal hides.  As soon as he got himself dressed he came back to the camp fire and addressed his new acquaintances more properly.

            "My name is Draco the Beast Master."  He introduced himself.    

            "Beast Master?"  Asuka asked

            "Yes, that's just what I said."  Draco had said once again, "I've been looking for all of you."

            "It was you who was in my dream, weren't you?"  Shinji asked immediately demanding the answer from this strange man.

            "Yes, I was."  Draco answered, "How I did it is a little complicated, but I'm sure you'll have some questions that I can answer for you, but first things first.  I'm sure you'll need some food and water, but I have one question for all of you."

            "What's that?" Misato asked

            "Did any of you go into the springs or drink from any of them?"

            They all looked at each other for one moment, but then Rei stepped forward, "No, I told them not to, because it feels weird around here."

            "Good."  Draco exhaled as he grabbed his chest, "Because this place is the land of a Thousand Cursed Springs."

            "Cursed?"  Michiru asked, "How are they cursed?"

            "Every spring here had someone or something drowned in it and so from that moment on, every spring is cursed that anyone who would fall into it would take the form of whatever drowned in it.  I had a friend who traveled here once and he fell into one of the springs."

            "What happened to him?"  Minako asked inquisitively wanting to know what would have happened if she and Usagi had even dipped their hands in those springs.

            "He came up as a young girl."  Draco explained, "As it turned out, he fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl.  He lived the rest of his life changing from his male form to his girl from just with hot and cold water."

            Minako gasped, "How terrible." 

            "It was even harder for him to go swimming."  Draco said as he turned around to go back to those car sized leather pouches.  He rummaged through one of them like a man going through the trunk of his car and came back with bundles in his arms.  He set them down by the edge of the fire and pulled out loafs of bread, pieces of uncooked sausage, and a metal grate that he placed over the fire and slapped the sausages onto the grate. 

            "I know that I'll have enough for everyone."  Draco said as he pulled out a fork from his bundle and continued to cook the sausages.

            "Alright, now we would like some answers."  Haruka spoke up, "Who you are, what we are doing here, and how do we get back?"

            Draco paused for a moment as he was tending to the meat on the fire. 

            "Star talking!"  Haruka demanded

            Draco smiled, "There's no need to get so wound up, besides I already told you who I was.  Draco the Beast Master, Guard to the One True King of Mydar."

            "So, this place is called Mydar?"  Misato asked  

            "Yes it is."  Draco answered and continued to explain everything.  Little did they know that to the East as well as the west, two similar groups had the same explanation given to them, the land that was called Mydar, the people that came to the Ivory Tower in its center, taken their king for his talents, and how he spread his power into seven different objects.  As well as why the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelions were brought to the lands of Mydar.

            "So, what you're telling us" Misato restated, "Is that we're here to help you free your king from his captors.  A group of people and creatures called The Obsessed.  Is that right?"

            "Yes."  Draco answered, "I know it may seem hard to believe, but I'm sure all of you have felt something when you came here.  It may be stronger for some of you but for others it may be very faint."

            "He's right."  Rei answered immediately.  "I've felt it too."

            "But you haven't answered my last question."  Haruka restated, "How do we get back home?"

            Draco nodded, "I see how anxious you are, well my master does have ways of getting all of you back home, but most of them lie within his tower, which is why we need to go there."

            "So, how do we get there?"  Ami asked

            "We'll keep going East, we'll find a town in that direction."  Draco returned his attention back to the meet on the grill.  "Good, the meat is done." 

            He reached back into the bundle and took out a few plates, "I don't exactly have enough for everyone so you're going to have to share." 

            The dinner around the camp fire went rather oddly, especially since two or three people had to eat from one plate.  Still, what was there to complain about?  There was water, food, and information about what they need to do next.  Then again, several of them were still unnerved by the fact that this man had changed himself from a dragon into a human.  How could they tell that this man was either in his true form? 

            Shinji sat next to Draco to find this out, "Um…excuse me."  He said very quietly.

            "Yes?"  Draco answered in a very kind voice as he continued to eat.

            "How did you do that?"

            "Do what?"  Draco turned his eyes to Shinji which still seemed very much human.

            "Change into a dragon?"

            "Oh that."  Draco recognized, "It's a little trick my master taught me.  There is only one other person amongst us seven guards who can do that."

            "Who's the other?"

            "Her name is Callina."  Draco smiled, "She can transform herself into the most beautiful unicorn you could set your eyes upon."

            Only a few seconds later, Misato had to ask, "Wouldn't it be a little conspicuous going around looking like mythical creatures."

            "Oh no."  Draco shook his head, "Around here, they're pretty common.  Dragons, Unicorns, Elves, and so on."

            "Dragons?"  Usagi asked with fear

            "Yup."  Draco answered, "They're all kinds here, Land Dragons, Sky Dragons, Sea Dragons, and Wyverns.  But none of them come around here." 

            "Probably because they know of the cursed springs."

            Draco shook his head, "Not really.  They were told that."

            "Told?"  Makoto asked, "How can a dragon be told something like that?"

            "It's a little family history of mine.  My father once told me as a little boy that my great, great, great, great grandfather, Peter the Great had tamed the wild dragons and taught them to speak.  Thus the dragons that exist in the wild do speak, but sometimes it takes a Beast Master like myself to speak dragon to them." 

            Shinji began to laugh.

            It was something that Asuka and Misato had never heard from Shinji Ikari.  This was a boy who was so morose and pathetic in all that time that they knew him that it almost made them wonder if he ever smiled in his entire life.  So, it was rather disturbing to hear someone like him start to laugh that it begged the question.

            "What's so funny, Third Child?"  Asuka asked very snootily

            "Draco, you really are a bag of surprises." 

            "Yes, that's what makes me a Beast Master."  He explained as he finished his sausage, "I can speak all kinds of beast languages, Hawk, whale, horse, dragon, and the list goes on and on." 

            "I'm glad we did find someone to help us."  Ami said, "Don't you think so?"  She asked the rest of the Senshi but then she noticed something about Minako.  She seemed rather occupied with what she was holding in her hand.  At first Ami leaned over to see that Minako was hunched over and staring at whatever she had in her hand.  The curiosity was too much as she got up and came over to her friend. 

            "Minako?"  She called

            Minako looked up and asked, "Yes?" 

            "I was just saying that it was a good thing we found someone to help us, don't you think?"

            "Yes, yes."  She said quickly as she went back to whatever it was she had in her hand as if it were the most precious thing in the world to her. 

            "What do you have there, Minako?" 

            "It's nothing."  Minako said snappily as she closed her fist

            "There's no need to hide."  Ami said gently

            Minako then opened up her hand and showed it to Ami, "It's a ring that I found in the cave last night." 

            Ami looked at it in Minako's Senshi gloved hand, "It's not exactly a ladies ring, is it?"  She asked, "It looks more like a man's ring." 

            "A man's ring?"  Draco asked as he got up from where he sat and came over to Minako and Ami who were all looking down at the ring with the others gathering around.  Draco took one long look at it as if it was something that he had spent his whole life searching for. 

            "Where did you find it?"  he asked

            "In the case we stayed at last night."  Minako answered diligently. 

            "May I have a closer look at it?"  Draco asked

            Hesitantly, Minako handed the ring over to Draco who then looked at it's golden simplicity, the band, and how simple it truly was.  It looked so ordinary but Draco knew that there was more to the ring that what met the eye.  With the ring in his hand he tossed it into the coals of the fire.

            "What are you doing!?"  Minako shouted at Draco

            "Testing a hunch" He said as he brought about the fork he was using to cook the meat on the grill.  He poked around in the coals, ash, and soot.  He threaded the prong of his fork through the hole and brought it about out of the fire.  He brought his hand close to it. 

            "Hold out your hand Minako."  He said to the Senshi,

            Minako looked at him oddly thinking that he was asking her to hold a hot piece of metal in her hand.

            "Don't worry, it's quite cold."  He said reassuring the girl as he allowed the ring to drop into her gloves hand. 

            To Minako's amazement, she felt no warmth at all from the ring.  "You're right."  She said

            "But can you see anything on the band?"  He asked her

            "No."  She shook her head, "Nothing…"  She paused for a moment but then said, "Wait, there's something coming through." 

            Upon the band of the ring, Minako was starting to see something burning through it or burning from within it.  She saw writing burning in bright orange letters on the band.  Yet they were letters that she couldn't understand.  Nothing like Japanese that she had ever seen, they were only lines and little circles both outside and inside the band itself. 

            "There's something written in a strange language on it."  She reported to Draco

            "It is an old language, one that only a few people can read, write, and speak; a language that my Master still uses to this day." 

            The other Senshi as well as the Evangelions gathered around Minako to catch a glimpse of what prize she had in her hands, seeing the burning glory that those letters had blazed across the golden surface of the ring. 

            "Well," Asuka asked, "What does it say?"

            "In the common language it says _I am from the One, I am bounded to the One, I am ruled by the One, and I shall return to the One._"

            "Alright."  Misato asserted, "You're not telling us everything are you?  What's this all about?"

            As the campfire continued to burn brightly into the night, Draco had explained the purpose of the ring.  He told them everything about how his master had taken a bulk of his power and split it into seven different items.  That each item contains a special property.  He and the other guards knew of them, which is why they went looking for them.  He had told them that the ring was only one piece of their master. 

            "And so it needs to be taken back to him."  Draco had finished

            "That settles it then."  Misato answered back, "We'll head to the Dark Tower and give back the ring.            

            The night went very quickly, the sausage and the bread did fill up everyone in the strange party.  That's how it usually is, food helps make the nights go faster, especially being deprived of it for more than a day.  In which case, for Usagi, seems like a week.  But it was thanks to the sleeping bags and pillows that Draco had in his enormous dragon pouches that helped them stay warm, which helped them through the cold night. 

            It was only in the morning that Shinji Ikari was the first to wake up again.  Then again, Shinji wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper, never was in the first place.  Though to him, he felt more at ease in this place called Mydar.  Despite how weird everything was all around him.  He woke up smelling the fresh mist coming off of the cursed springs and feeling the sun upon his face.  He got up from his sleeping bag and stretched. 

            He looked around and he found Draco, but what he was doing snapped him to being fully awake.  Draco was undressing himself. 

            "What are you doing?"  Shinji asked rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

            Draco turned around to look at Shinji, "I'm going to transform back to Dragon form."

            It was during that whole time that Draco was talking to Shinji that he never gave any second thought to cover himself up.  Either it was because he was so secure about his own nudity that he didn't care about being like that in front of anyone.  Or that he's done this so many times that he's not going to stop just because of some idea of modesty.      

            "Why?"  Shinji asked

            "Do you think you can lift these bags?"  He thumbed over to the enormous leather bags behind him. 

            Shinji didn't have to answer since it was a rhetorical question.  He only stood there and watched as Draco got down on all fours and the reverse of what happened last night had occurred.  His neck and head elongated like a snake, both eyes became reptilian with those black slits in them, his skin became broken and scaly, a tail grew from his lower back, while wings grow from his shoulder blades, and he grew in size as his dragon appearance had completed itself. 

            In his dragon form, he got up onto his hind legs and threw the bags over his back like a kid slinging a backpack onto one shoulder.  The bags rustled with whatever odds and ends that there were inside and the rustling had stirred the rest of the Senshi up from their sleep.  Some of them bolted upright thinking that they were under attack by those Obsessed that Draco was talking about the night before.  Then they saw Draco in his dragon form and most of them calmed down enough to hear the plan that Draco had in store. 

            "What I'll do is this."  Draco started, "in my dragon form I know we can cover more miles."

            "Are you suggesting we fly?"  Usagi asked with the fear showing through in her voice and body language.

            "As a matter of fact, yes."  Draco answered back, "I'll need each of you to climb into the bags.  That way none of you will have the danger of falling out….God forbid." 

            Of course the idea of flying in the dragon's saddlebags didn't exactly appeal to some of the Senshi or the Evangelions, but then again, what's to argue about?  It's either ride in the bags or walk.  The risk of riding in the bags did seem a little bit better than the alternative. 

            Following Draco's instructions, the Senshi and Evangelions each climbed into one of the four dragon saddlebags.  Since there were nine Senshi, three Starlights, and the three Evangelions, it made it an even twelve.  That meant four people per bag, while the cats Luna and Artimus climbed into the bag with Usagi and Minako hoping to God that they wouldn't be crushed.  For Shinji, being the only man in the group, he already felt uncomfortable being in such a confined space with three other women. 

            The insides of the bags weren't so confining as that time that Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Kaji, Kenuske, and Suzahara were cramped into an elevator together so tightly that it was hard to move without touching someone.  There was some space in those bags to roll around in, but it seemed a little inadvisable since they would be flying soon.  As they had all climbed into the bags, they were waiting with great anticipation for the dragon to take flight.  It was in the very same way that a person first steps onto a roller coaster, as the leathery flaps of the bags came down over them and they heard Draco's voice.

            "Is everyone ready?"  He asked

            There were muffled replies all giving the go ahead with the plan. 

            Shinji already felt the fear clasp around him, his fingers griped into the tent material that he was sitting upon.  He heard and felt the rustle outside as Draco had spread out his wings and they began to flap.  At first it felt like a great wind gust against the leathery wall of the bag, but it quickly turned into a helicopter ride when the feeling of gravity had jumped up and down for those in the bag.  Soon, the rustling outside became constant, like an engine roar of a car or the clan-clan of a train against the tracks. 

            "Everyone enjoying the ride so far?"  Draco asked jokingly

            Except no one from any of the four bags were laughing about it.  In fact most of them were hanging on for dear life hoping that they don't get one glance downward (For one) or that the bags don't come loose and fall God knows how many miles to the ground.  IT did feel like they were pretty high up from how chili it was getting and how thin the air had gotten, like breathing at high altitude.  That was when the train of thought had to be stopped, thinking about altitude only led back to the fear of how high up they were.  It was one of those things that were unavoidable to think about, like thinking about how long it'll be to the dentist appointment.

            The journey had then become hypnotic for some of them, just like falling asleep on a long family trip.  The parents up in the front looking out at the road making sure that they were going in the right direction, while the kids were asleep in the backseat from the constant nothingness outside, and the soothing rocking motion of the car. 

            The more accurate way to feel about it was that it was like being in an airplane.  Though the cold air that came into the bags was a little much for some of them, especially for some of them who wore such revealing uniforms.

            The grueling endurance didn't last very long as the Senshi and Evangelions inside the dragon saddlebags suddenly felt a drop, much in the same way when someone goes down from the top floor to the ground floor inside an elevator, that sudden shift in gravity.  Of course none of them wanted to even look outside the flap of the bag.  Even some of the more fearless of them had that small human twinge of it, but it wasn't long until they felt that upward thrust and knowing that they had landed. 

            "You can come out now."  Draco said, "We're on the ground."

            Slowly, the Senshi and the Evangelions threw themselves over the lip of the dragon saddlebags to see where it was that they landed.  Of course, some of the fearful ones who wanted nothing more than to be on the ground (Such as Usagi and Minako) knelt down to the ground and kiss the grass and dirt thanking God that they're down safe. 

            Bringing themselves back to the situation at hand, the Senshi and Evangelions looked to Draco whom had not transformed back to his human form.  He simply stood there on his four claws looking up.  They looked and saw what it was he was looking at.

            In front of them was an enormous wall of stone.  It stretched northward and southward, God knows how many miles long it was.  To their eyes it seemed as if it had rivaled the Great Wall of China itself.  The wall itself stretched upward to an estimated distance as high as a small building.  The kind that seemed to border upon a sky scraper and where they stood they saw that the point at the wall they were at was a castle.  A castle embedded into the wall, like a watch tower, its turrets stretching further up from the wall and down at its base where they stood was the large wooden door that seemed as tall as the apartment building that Misato, Asuka, and Shinji had stayed in.  A pair of doors so large that it seemed like an engineering marvel of medieval technology that it stayed the way that it was, with the iron braces stretching across them like branches of a tree with iron spikes holding it there.

            The Senshi looked up to Draco

            "Why didn't you transform?"  Minako asked

            "I know some people here."  Draco explained, "I'd like to see if they're still here."  He looked up at the castle of stone built into the wall and cleared his throat, "Hello…"  No answer from the castle parapets, "HELLO!"  His voice echoed

            From behind the parapet came the head, arms, and torso of a man who was leaning over the wall.  From the distance they could see, he was wearing armor, as well as gauntlets and a smooth shining bullet-like helmet. 

            "'ello!  Who is it?"  He asked.  Already the Senshi and Evangelions could tell that he was foreign from the accent he had.  It sounded very Latin based, but it was obvious to some of them.  It was French. 

            "It is Draco the Beast Master!"  Draco called, "I am friend with the guardian of this castle and wall, Carolinas the Green Wizard!  Go and tell him that I have some friends who will help me in my endeavor."

            "Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be very keen….because we've captured him you see?"

            Draco paused to take in what he had just heard, "What?"  He asked

            "I think he said that they've captured your friend."  Misato stated to the dragon

            "Who are you and whom do you serve?"  Draco demanded from the man on the parapet

            The Frenchman was quick to respond to the question, "I serve my master, the leader of the Obsessed, Dark Eagle!"

            "This is bad."  Draco thought, "They've occupied Barret's Wall." 

            He then thought of something, "In that case, can we come in and see him?"

            "Of course not!"  The Frenchman declared, "You are Mydar types."

            "Well what are you then?"  Asuka shouted up the wall with that snooty attitude that she always had.

            "I'm French!  Why do you think I have this outrageous accent you silly girl!"

            Draco's frustration could be clearly seen on his scaly face as he tried to think of a solution to this small problem.  At last he decided to give an ultimatum, "If you won't let us in peacefully, we shall take over the castle and wall by force!"

            "You don't frighten us, Mydar pig-dogs!"  The Frenchman answered back, "Go and boil your bottoms sons and daughters of a silly person!  I blow my nose at you Draco Beast Master, you and all your silly Mydar knnnnnniggggits!" 

            The Frenchman stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the Senshi, Evangelions, and Draco as he patted the top of his smooth silvery helmet.  He even went as far as to stick his hands at his side as he blew his last raspberry at them. 

            "What a weird man."  Asuka uttered

            But Draco wasn't about to back down, "Now look…"

            "I don't wanna talk to you no more you empty headed animal food trough whopper!  I ffffffffffart in your general direction!  Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

            There was a pause amongst the crew, but the commanding Misato Katsuragi tried to use a little of her academy taught diplomacy.

            "Is there someone else we could speak to?"  She asked

            "Ah no!"  The Frenchman answered, "Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!" 

            "This is your last chance to come out without being burned!"  Draco called up, but his warning fell upon deaf ears as the Frenchmen upon the parapet were concocting a plan of their own.  As Draco was stating his ultimatum, the Frenchman who spoke with him had issued an order to the rest of his men.  He spoke with two other men who were leaning against the parapet as he was speaking with Draco down upon the ground.  He issued the order and the two of them went down into the stables and pulled out a cow. 

            "I just want to give you one last chance before…."  Draco said before he heard a sound from within the castle.

            FUNG!

            It sounded much like a catapult being released, that the tension in the rope that was holding back it's payload had just been released.  That whatever it had was coming right at them, and what that thing was became very clear as it came over the wall of the castle. 

            MOOOO!

            The creature called out as it came down upon Draco's fellowship. 

            "Jesus Christ!"  Draco shouted, but then he smirked, "Lunch." 

            The Senshi and the Evangelions ran for cover, some of them ran under the belly of Draco while others continued to run with the cow falling to the ground like a great stone.  As it came tumbling down still mooing, Draco extended his neck and wrapped his dragon jaws around the body of the cow and within one gulp he swallowed it like a little piece of candy.      

            "Is that the best you can do?"  Draco called up to the Frenchmen, but they said nothing in return.  Perhaps they were just shocked as could be to see a dragon swallow up an entire cow in one clamp of its jaws in one gulp. 

            "Right!"  Draco declared, "I'll free my friend in the same way I'll free the one true king of Mydar!

To be continued…


	13. The Mariachi

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 13: The Southern Group**

**The Mariachi **

            Up ahead of the parallel roads that left the towns of Boulder and Derry was the town of Rachel where the roads were going to meet each other like twin paths of destiny.  Upon those roads were two groups that were both amazingly similar and at the same time so awfully different. 

            It had been hours since the Lupin crew had departed the town of Derry with such expeditious speed.  They've already committed grand theft auto in their first few days of being in this place called Mydar, but driving away in style was always Lupin's signature.  Plus walking didn't seem like an attractive option, especially with Fujiko in her high heels, and Lupin was always the chivalrous one when it came to Fujiko.  On the other hand, he didn't like the idea of walking either. 

            The hours had passed quickly as Fujiko slept in her seat with the wooden cup that she had gotten from that antique shop.  It sat in her lap as if it was her prized purse from some great New York shopping center or store in Paris.  Yet, she didn't allow it to lie in her lap; she still kept a good grip around its stem to make sure that it doesn't go anywhere.  It seemed so strange to the others that a woman who was obsessed with clothes, diamonds, and such would fall so head-over-heels for a simple wooden cup.  Lupin did give a few glances at it and it seemed so ordinary, why Fujiko would want it was such a mystery to him, but he had to put it aside since he was still driving. 

            Jigen worked on a small crossword puzzle that he kept in his pocket.  He has already completed the first few pages as Lupin kept driving the red Mercedes Benz along the black road to Rachel.  _Whatever that is,_ Jigen would think as he tried to work out the six-letter, seven-letter, three-letter, four-letter words to the clues that were given. 

            Last of all, Goemon who sat cross-legged in meditative contemplation with his sword at his side, but that's Goemon in a nutshell.  If he wasn't fighting, he was simply sitting and silently contemplating…about what, God only knows. 

            It was morning when they had left Derry, but it was turning into later afternoon as they came upon another sign written in English.

Rachel                                    5 mi.

            "Hey Lupin."  Jigen called from the backseat, but never looked up from his cross-word puzzle as he tried to figure out a three-lettered word for a flightless bird. 

            "Yeah?"  Lupin answered

            "What'd you think we'll find in the next town?"

            "I don't know."  Lupin answered back keeping his eyes upon the road ahead of him.  He had answered Jigen's question seriously but still somehow kept his cocky smirk, "But I have a pretty good feeling it'll be very interesting." 

            "I certainly hope so."  Jigen grunted as he filled in the letters, e, m, and u, for the question he was thinking about in his puzzle. 

            Just to the west of the road that the Lupin crew was traveling upon was the second of the twin roads that led to Rachel was the Outlaw Six, who had Gene Starwind at the wheel.  Since the car they had gotten was a very ancient antique to their eyes, it wasn't that much different than the case they drove.  The only thing that Gene had to get use to was the bumpiness that the car has upon the road, thanks to the wheels that made contact with the asphalt below.

            Aside from the bumpiness, the car was quiet.  Gene had his mind filled with thoughts about what was on the road ahead.  Jim was fast asleep with his head bobbing up and down as if he was fighting to get out of whatever dream his was in.  The same was with Asia, though she was a little deeper into her sleep, curled up in her seat just like a newborn kitting on her first day in the world.  Sazuka was simply sitting in her seat with her wooden sword in its cloth lying next to her, she had her eyes closed though in some way she was asleep, but she was so disciplined that even sleep was a ritual for her. 

            Then there was Melphina, who sat slightly hunched over with her newly acquired watch in her hand.  Her long smooth lady fingers brushed over the surface of the watches cover, feeling the embossed figures of the tiger and the dragon.  She had lifted that cover with the tab that had PULL engraved into it.  Under it she had found it to be like any other old fashioned watch, three hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds that were ticking away.  She closed it back up again and went back to the cover. 

            Despite its blandness Melphina still found something genuinely beautiful.  Perhaps it was the beauty and craftsmanship of the embossed cover.  On the other hand that was Melphina unto herself, she found beauty in the simplest of things like the colors in a wonderful desert or watching a caterpillar inching its way along a leaf.  The watch that she traded for her gold anklet for had that simple beauty to her eyes.

            In the drivers' seat Gene could see the next road sign up ahead, the white English letters against the green background.

Rachel                        5 mi.

            "I can feel we're getting closer."  Gene thought to himself as his foot pressed down a little more on the accelerator.  Though as he sped up to the town of Rachel, there was something very eerie about the road that he was upon.  He didn't notice it until he had passed that sign.  The road was empty.  There was hardly a car upon it, either coming or going to Rachel.  Thinking about this empty place suddenly felt very creepy to Gene.  He remembered back to movies that he saw growing up, normally when a place is that empty everyone is usually a zombie or that some terrible disease has killed everyone.  That was when he tried to think rationally about it so that he wouldn't loose his cool; there were people in the Boulder. 

            "Relax, Gene."  He said to himself, "We'll see what's there in the next town."

            The town of Rachel sat at the cross-roads of Mydar, where the twin roads from Derry and Boulder had met each other like two long lost friends coming together once again.  To the north of the town was the River Isen which stretched across Mydar from the Misty Mountains in the East to the Tempest Bay in the far west.  Ever northward of the town were the roads that led to the place where everyone who had come to Mydar were all searching and questing for.  Between that and Rachel was a thick forest of Redwood trees, all of them giant and majestic that must have taken centuries for them to grow.   

            Rachel itself wasn't exactly the most industrial of towns.  It was more of a suburban area, with its highest building being about 6 floors or so.  The six story building, the sky scraper of the town, the Hotel Rachel, which had such a stark contrast to the rest of the town.  It had such a gleam to its exterior as if it had its grand opening just yesterday or perhaps that afternoon at the latest.  Then again that's how it was with most of the buildings on the north end of Rachel.

            The town was divided into four sections like a pie being cut into four pieces with the main road running straight through it and to the north and another within it from East to West.  Yet on a social and building level the town was divided into three sections as if they were all separated by using a T-cut.  The top half of the town was the business section, grocery stores, stores of all kinds.  To the south were the other two quarter sections that made up the rest of Rachel.  The South-western quarter was residential, almost like suburban areas with streets that were named after trees like Oak, Pine, Rosewood, Alder, and so on.  The houses themselves in that section were very rich looking, all large with swimming pools, great landscaping, and all kinds of luxuries.  Then there was the south-eastern quarter of Rachel, the place was an even greater contrast to the northern half or the south-western quarter.  All the houses there looked like adobes all made out of mud, sand, and wood.  The rich people of the West Side (as it was called) called it "Little Mexico", mostly because the people living there were laborers, people who worked for slave wages in order to make ends meet.  The kind of jobs that no one else wants to do, park cars, rake leaves, and pick fruit.  Rachel was truly a place where the rich and wicked thrive while the innocent and poor suffer; at least that's how it was in the modern times of Mydar. 

            At the Southern End of Rachel was where the roads that came from Derry and Boulder met along with one coming from a town to the East called Talkers Mill.  It was there at that meeting of the roads where the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six arrived at.  Both cars coming to that one road that split the town down its center on its way northward, but neither one noticed each other. 

            The streets of Rachel were busy with cars coming and going, going and coming.  In their journey northward it was bumper to bumper traffic, but as the cars inched their way along the main road, both members had the same idea.  Arsene Lupin III and Gene Starwind suggested to their crews:

            "Let's find a hotel."

            Both parties agreed in their separate isolation, that's how it was when anyone drives for hours on end, the tendency is to what to stop to eat, rest, and get out of the car.  They could already see that it was coming to the later part of the afternoon.  That time when the sun was already showing signs of the day by sending its gold waves across the sky and clouds. 

            With the sky turning the way it was, it had occurred to the Lupin Crew as well as the Outlaw Six in their separate cars that something's never change no matter where one goes or where they are.

            Going along the long street both of them saw the south-western and south-eastern quarters of Rachel.  The rich side with their large luxurious houses and the poor side with adobe-like houses and their residents looking out the windows like sad puppies wanting an owner.  All of their eyes speaking of a wanting that they once knew, but was taken from them like the dignity taken from a rape victim.

            Eventually the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six came to that T-intersection where the main road was intersected by the road that divided the town into North and South, residential and commercial.  There the two drivers from different worlds had spotted the Hotel Rachel.

            The hotel stood on the other side of the dividing road that separated the North from the South.  It had its own corner on the North-western slice of Rachel as if it was a casino on the Vegas strip.  It's parking lot massive and nearly filled completely by cars except for a few stray spots on the outer edges like leaves that were missed by the rake.

            Lupin and Gene pulled into that lot and the only spots they could find right away were right next to each other.  The two cars pulled into those spaces like two full-grown men diving for the last slice of pizza.  All the while, no one on either side knew of the destined paths that would bring them together. 

            Gene had opened the door of his car and got out to stretch, reaching upward and giving a great yawn as his friends did the same thing.  All of them stretching like cats coming out of a very long nap, especially in the case of that Ktarl-ktarl Asia Clan-clan.  Melphina and Sazuka tried to stretch in lady like ways as they could.  Jim did it in the same way as Gene; just reach his arms up, taking in a breath of the odd air in Rachel and yawning.  The air around Rachel seemed odd indeed as Jim breathed it in.  It seemed….clean.  Almost like being out in the country despite all the activity that was going on with the cars and such, but he took his mind off of it as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Gilliam pod that he took from the Outlaw Star.

            "Gilliam."  He said to the bubblegum pink cylinder, "Can you still read us?"

            "Yes Jim."  The Gilliam Pod answered, "You're still within contact range and so far no one has tried to enter the ship. 

            "I just don't like the idea of leaving the Outlaw Star out there like that in the condition it's in, Gene."

            "What choice do we have, Jim?"  Gene asked as he took one more yawn, "We basically can't do anything at this point." 

            "I guess you're right, Gene."  Jim said as he placed the Gilliam Pod back in his coat

            Meanwhile Sazuka was trying to stretch herself in the best way possible.  Then again the best way possible was always a good one especially with the martial arts training that she's had.  She took in the deep breaths, always with deep breaths in any kind of physical training.  As she did she too noticed the strange taste in the air of how clean it was. 

            From the car next to the Outlaw Six came the Lupin crew.  Just like two men walking down the street on opposite sides never knowing that their twin is across the street.  The Lupin crew did just the same thing as the Outlaw Six, got out to really stretch after being inside the car for hours on end. 

            Though Goemon wasn't exactly stretching, his super senses were already starting to detect something amiss.  It was a fragrance, something that he had not smelled in a very long time.  Not since he had been in the presence of another Japanese woman, the real kind, the genuine one who was born and raised in the culture.  Goemon smelled something sweet like white plum or maybe jasmine.  He turned around to see where the fragrance was coming from and he saw her.  He saw a Japanese woman dressed in clothes that seemed befitting of someone who was studying the martial arts.  He felt a strange attraction at first but then he looked down to see what she had in her hand.  His quick-draw synapses fired in super succession, she was carrying a sword that was covered in a cloth. 

"You there!"  Goemon called out as he reached for the hilt of his Zantetsuken, "How are you?"

Across the way, and to the ones from another universe, Sazuka turned to look at the samurai.  She too noticed the same things about him that he noticed about her, his clothes, his stance, even the sword that he was drawing for.  Already she knew that he meant to start a duel despite any kind of answers that she would give.  In response to the samurai's demands, she reached over to untie the knot that covered the sword cloth.

"Why not give me your name before we start this duel?"  She asked politely as both the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew gathered behind their teammates to see what the outcomes would be. 

"I am Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth."

"I will extend the courtesy then.  My name is Sazuka, but some know me as _Twilight_ Sazuka."  She said as she pulled out the wooden sword from her cloth, "It is nearly sunset, how many sunsets will you see after this duel is over?"

"I don't believe I will loose."  Goemon said as his eyes narrowed and the grip upon his sword grew tighter. 

"Neither shall I."  Sazuka said with a smile across her ruby red painted lips when she took her stance with the sword in hand. 

Both groups gathered upon opposite sides of the barrier that came between them as Sazuka and Goemon were about to being their duel.  But to the duelists the rest of the world seemed to slip away as if they had brought themselves to an empty dimension where there was just those two ready to carry out their duel. 

Goemon already felt that he could win the duel because there was nothing that he and his Zantetsuken could cut.  He had proved that once when he had sliced a plane in half.  It was back when a Chinese Gangster had discovered the secret to the metal of Goemon's sword with the use of a small dragon figurine.  The madman had made a bomber plan with the same metal as its coating, but despite that Goemon had sliced through it like he had with everything that met his swords blade in his hand. 

Sazuka on the other hand was already thinking the same thing that she would defeat this man named Goemon.  Even though he had a metal sword, but she had faired against opponents with metal weapons that didn't leave so much as a scratch on her wooden sword.  She remembered that from facing one of the Anten Seven, Hitoriga; a man whose skills were steeped into the martial arts.  Even with his martial arts skills, metal claws, and Tao Magic, Sazuka still killed him.  So, she thought, he shouldn't be any different. 

Goemon made the first move.  With his lightning speed and reflexes he leaped up over the heads of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew as he drew out his Zantetsuken with grease-like smoothness.  He had his target acquired like a heat seeking missile and was ready to make his slice, but something surprised him.  He watched in slow motion as he came down upon the woman named Sazuka as she drew up her wooden sword and blocked the Zantetsuken.

His eyes went wide as he had witnessed it happening.  A wooden sword had blocked the sword whose very name meant "The Sword that Cuts through Iron".  Not even a single chip of wood came out and that was when Goemon knew that he had gravely underestimated his opponent.  Maybe because of that wooden sword or just because of the most sexist reason; she was a woman. 

The two sword fighters were locked, both pressing against each other with all the strength they had.  In all they're struggle neither one was gaining the upper-hand.  The samurai knew that there had to be a change in tactics in order to win the duel.  He broke the lock and dashed across the tops of the cars in the parking lot with Sazuka following suit.  The two of them dashed across the tops and hoods of the cars as if they were skipping across stepping stones in a pond of a Japanese garden.  Sometimes their steps had left dents and other times they had set off the car alarms, while behind them the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six watched in such awe of the skills of their friends' opponent.  How similar they both were to one another, as if God had made two halves of the same person, one masculine and the other feminine, using their swords as if they were extensions of their own bodies. 

Goemon and Sazuka continued their battle as they leaped off the cars and sliced at one another trying to make any kind of dent or scratch in the other, but every move was both anticipated and blocked.  Despite the fact that they wanted to either disable or kill their opponent they both felt something twitch in their face.  They could feel themselves smile at their opponent.

Bath among the Outlaw Six, Jim Hawking leaned over to Gene and asked, "Should we help her?"    

"How can we?"  He asked in return, "I think we would get in the way."

"You said it, brother."  A very cocky voice said.

Gene looked over and saw a very lank man dressed in a bright red suit coat, "If those two want to fight then the best thing to do is let them fight."

"But it's a fight to the death isn't it?"  Jim spoke up to the man in the red coat out of his great concern for Sazuka's life.

On the other side of the device, Lupin had been trying to assess the situation in the back of his mind.  There next to him was a group of people that were similar to him in some small way; at least the woman from their group was like Goemon.  How could the rest of those people on the other side be like him and his crew?  Perhaps the man with red hair was like Lupin, though looking at the twin scars on his left cheek, Lupin already assessed that he was the more handsome of the two.  Still, it was that red hair on his head that Lupin pondered over the most in those few minutes he had to think to himself.  The hair was much like his coat, it could have been a coincidence or maybe that man was an alternate version of himself.  Yet, the events of the day remained to be seen for the professional thief. 

As Lupin thought about it a little more a loud voice boomed out over them.

"STOP!" 

Everyone turned to look where the voice came from, even the fighting swordsmen Sazuka and Goemon stopped their duel to look where that voice came from.  As they had put away their swords the came off of the tops of the cars and walked up the isles to their respective groups.  It was like they were walking to the scene of a major traffic accident to get a better look and still find a way not to piss the police off.  Slowly, Goemon took his place beside his friends and Sazuka did the same as the crowd had turned itself into an odd u-shape around the one who made that command for everything to stop.   

The one who was in the center of the crowd that consisted of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six was a rather aged man, roughly in his late forties.  His hair was balding, but there was no touch of gray anywhere in his brown hair that was parted to his right.  He wore a brown suit, tie, gold tie clip, and a pair of sunglasses that did show a little bit of what was behind them because of the semi-translucence in them.  Yet his face was lined with the wrinkles of his age as he continued to keep his neutral face.  Yet the thing that seemed very eerie to them was the thing in his ear, it looked like one of those headphones that plug straight into the ear itself, but this one had a chord that went right down into his suit.  The man looked like an Agent.    

"Mister Starwind."  He said to Gene, "Mister Lupin.  Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Smith, Agent Smith."  He spoke in a very sinister low tone to all of them, elongating the S as if he were a snake.  "It seems that my superiors were right about all of you.  Whatever you're planning I suggest you stop right here, unless you want to be killed."

"Heh," Gene laughed, "Get a load of you.  You waltz up here and say to us to stop or we'll be killed, when none of us know what the hell is going on."

"You go that right."  Lupin agreed with the outlaw, "I for one don't like to be ordered around."

"Hmmm, Mister Starwind, Mister Lupin, you disappoint me." 

As the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six both were trying to grasp the overall situation as well as the one that had just walked in and started making demands upon them, a very familiar and gruff voice called out to them. 

"LUPIN!" 

Lupin froze for a moment, but turned his neck to find out what was there like looking over his shoulder to see if he was being followed.  Sure enough, he was being followed by the very man who had chased him across the Earth for most of his professional life.  The man from Interpol, Inspector Zenigata, he came pulling up into the hotel parking lot in his very policeman looking car and got out straightening his brown trench-coat and approached the Lupin Crew.  The inspector, who had dealt with all kinds of local authorities around the world, recognized the agent immediately from his suit and earpiece.

"Aha!"  he said with a gleeful smile, "I see you've caught them, sir."  He approached the agent with a glow as though he had won once again against the thief not knowing the dangers that lurked in that situation.  He saluted the agent, "Inspector Zenigata from Interpol.  Thank you, very much.  You're involvement is no longer needed I'll simply take back the criminals to Interpol HQ."

"I'm sorry, Inspector."  The agent said as his aged eye brows raised his forehead wrinkled, "But you have no authority here." 

"What?!"  Zenigata shouted at the Agent, but he was quick to think that he could give proof to the agent of his authority.  He reached in and pulled out his badge, "See, I'm Inspector Zenigata of Interpol."

The Agent looked at the badge in such a way that it looked as if he was turning his nose up at the inspector.  "Lovely badge" He said, "But Interpol does not exist here.  Only the authority of the Obsessed and my orders are to kill all of you.  Good bye, Inspector."

As the agent made his farewell to Zenigata he reached into his coat.  The most experienced gunman of the group already knew what was going to happen; the agent was going for his gun, but it was the way he was going for it that added the extra odd feeling to the adrenaline that was pumping through all of them.  The agent's hand and arms that reached for the gun seemed like a blur like a cheetah running at full speed across the African plains. 

The agent pulled out his gun which was more like a hand cannon with the words "Desert Eagle .50" written along its barrel.  In that blur he made his first aim and it was at the head of Inspector Zenigata who was looking down the long chrome barrel.  His eyes then moved down into the dark passage into the chamber where he knew there was a bullet with his name on it.  His life didn't flash in front of his eyes because he was too goddamn scared to think.  So, what could he do?  Just pull a stupid face and wait for the inevitable to happen.

The trigger was pulled and Zenigata closed his eyes as he heard the gunshot run out but he felt himself tumble over.  He didn't know what happened at first but then he knew the feeling of what did happen an instant later; he was being pulled.  He opened his eyes to find Lupin on top of him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"  Zenigata shouted

"Show a little gratitude, pops."  Lupin said very surly, but still kept that smirk on his face, "I couldn't just let that guy splatter your brains everywhere."    

The three way gunfight had started between the agent, the Lupin Crew, and the Outlaw Six.  In the great expanse of the hotel parking lot all of them sought temporary refuge behind one of the large SUV's, the kind so large that a rhino could be hid behind it.  They hid crouched down at its side with the agents' bullets flying cracking out glass and putting in holes in the cars bodies.  As the bullets flew, all of them began to arm themselves.

Lupin was loading up his Walther P-38, Jigen was loading his hand cannon as well, and Gene was loading his caster with a number ten shell.

"Whatever or whoever this guy is," Gene observed, "We can't let ourselves die like this."

"You don't need to tell me."  Lupin said as he cocked his Walther, he held it in his left hand as he reached over to Gene with his right, "By the way, my name's Lupin the Third."

"Gene."  The outlaw returned the handshake, "Gene Starwind."

"Enough chit-chat."  Jigen stewed, "Let's kick some ass."

"Suits me just fine."  Gene said as he, Lupin, and Jigen dashed to their feet and jumped out from behind the SUV and had the agent in their sights.  The first ones to fire were Lupin and Jigen.  They emptied their clips at the agent but as they fired they noticed something that defied all logic and reason.    

Their bullets flew at the agent and he turned into a blur.  At least the upper part of his body did, there were after images of his upper section bending forward, then sideways, backward, and back again.  All the while the bullets only made holes in the cars beyond their target.

Click-click

Lupin and Jigen's guns ran out, but the two of them could only look and see that with all the effort that was done the agent didn't have a single scratch about him.  He looked just as he did when he first introduced himself.  The two of them tried to get over the disbelief of what they had just witnessed despite knowing that if they didn't do something quick they would be killed.  They watched in the same stunned amazement as the agent had brought himself about and aimed once again.

"Games over, Old Man!"  Gene shouted as he pulled his casters trigger.  The twin rings of the barrel spun round and round like the engines of a jet and the ball of magic fired straight at Agent Smith.  It came out in a bright stream of blue light, at first the agent tried to dodge it much like he did with the bullets fired by Jigen and Lupin.  Unlike the bullets, the agent couldn't dodge fast enough and the magic had hit him.  He went flying backward and hit the side doors of one of the parked cars, smashing in the windows, body frame, and setting off the car alarm. 

"Not bad for a number ten."  Gene said

Then as quickly as Agent Smith went down, he got back up and took aim once again at the thieves and outlaw. 

"Take cover!"  Gene shouted as the agent opened fire. 

Crouching back down beneath the SUV as the bullets flew once again, Gene, Jigen, and Lupin were reloading their weapons. 

"What the hell did you hit him with?"  Jigen asked in his raised voice as Gene went for another caster shell.

"It's my caster.  They use magic inside of these shells."  He displayed the golden shell as he shoved it into the casters chamber. 

"How many more of those things have you got?"  Lupin asked

"About 14."  Gene said as he closed the casters chamber, "But I don't think this guys going to go down that easily." 

"Then we'll have to hit him with everything we've got."  Lupin smirked as the three of them stood up and went back out to make another attack.  When they came out from behind the SUV they saw that the Agent was reloading his weapon as well.  The quick synapses of their minds made the connection that it was their golden opportunity to take the Agent down.  All of them took aim, but before they could pull their triggers another voice shouted out.

"SNOOTCH TO THE MOTHERFUCKIN' NOOTCH!" 

All heads and eyes turned to where the sound came from and from over the tops of the cars came a man dressed in black with a guitar case in one hand and a large gun in the other.  He came down from the top of a nearby van and landed upon his feet and began unloading all of the bullets in his gun at the agent.  As he fired the agent had turned himself back into that blur with the bullets passing him by and hitting everything else except the target. 

"TAKE COVER!"  The man in black shouted to Gene, Jigen, and Lupin

They couldn't figure out why but of course in the panicked situation that they were in they were willing to take any kind of help from anyone as long as they would take down the agent.  They ducked back behind the SUV with a new man accompanying them in their efforts to either injury or kill Agent Smith.

Over the sounds of the bullets, they spoke.

"Who the hell are you?"  Jigen asked sternly, "And what the hell are you doing here?"

"My name is Armand el Mariachi and right now I'm saving your ass.  Now look here's what we're going to do, I need everyone here to attack him in any way possible, gun, swords, bare fist, anything.  It's just a distraction while one of you will have to sneak up and shoot him from behind."

"Great idea."  Lupin smiled, "Don't you think so, Fuji…"  Lupin looked around to see if Fujiko was anywhere near them but she was gone, just like all those times before when Lupin would turn his back and she had vanished.  Lupin went down upon his hands and knees to look for where she had gone.  Peeking around behind one of the wheels of the SUV he found the back of her fuchsia dress.  She was a good five feet away ducking behind one of the cars. 

"Alright, are all of you ready?"  Armand asked

"I'm ready."  Gene smiled

"Same here."  Jigen said as he cocked his gun

Armand laid down his guitar case and opened it quickly as if his life had depended upon opening that lid.  Inside the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six found guns, bullets, gun belts, and knives.  He went in and pulled out two M-16 automatic rifles one for each hand and set them aside.  Then he pulled out a couple of Uzi's and stuffed them nozzle downward into his pants.  He dove his hands back into the guitar case and brought out a couple of small handguns that seemed to have extra long clips that went a few inches longer then the actual guns handle.  He handed both guns over to Jim.  Then his hands went back for the rifles. 

"ATTACK!"  Armand shouted out as the Lupin crew and the Outlaw Six made it for one big attack.  The first wave was Jigen and Lupin who emptied the bullets out of their guns as quickly as they did in their first attack with the agent.  They knew that he was going to dodge them again, but they knew that this was all just a build-up. 

The next attack came from Gene and Jim.  Gene fired his caster, this time he did a number eleven shell.  He brought it about and took aim against the agent who was still dodging the last of the bullets fired by Jigen and Lupin.  The twin rings of the caster spun round and round and the magic fired once again, but in the blur of adrenaline and gunfire Gene saw that the agent dodged the casters magic.  It seemed that the agent wasn't about to fall for the same ploy twice.  That was when the next wave came from Jim who brought out those twin guns that were given to him by Armand.  He pulled both triggers and at first the kick back of the guns was too much for his childish hands but Jim wasn't a novice about guns.  He tightened his grip upon them and aimed for the agent, who was still dodging the bullets. 

Then there was the wave of attack that involved Goemon and Sazuka.  The two of them dashed out over the tops and hoods of the cars setting off more alarms and making more dents thanks to their wooden shoes.  Goemon was the first one to make his slice at the agent; he knew that there wasn't anything that he and his sword couldn't cut.  Using the art of Iai, he tried to pull a few fast ones on the Agent, but the agent was quicker than Goemon.  He dropped his gun and used his palms to catch the blade of the Zantetsuken.  Goemon was shocked when he saw this and what was even more incredible, he didn't even see any blood running down the blade of the sword at all. 

As Goemon absorbed the shock, Sazuka made her move.  She used one of her specialty techniques.  She leaped up into the air and brought down the blade of her wooden sword in one swift swoop.  As she did the energies of her specialty technique came down upon the agent like a cartoon character trying to drop a piano on his enemies head.  Yet, like the Zantetsuken, the Agent had stopped the specialty technique.  He simply took his hands and used it to throw Goemon against one of the near by cars, giving him the ability to raise his hand to the specialty technique and divert it like stopping a small stream of water from a hose.   

"No one has ever been able to stop it like that." Sazuka thought to herself as she waited for the next attack.

It came from Armand who had brought about his twin M-16 rifles allowing each arm to fire them.  Even with the huge kick-back the guns had in firing, Armand still held his own trying to keep them on the target ahead of him.  He didn't even think about the barrel heating up or anything like that.  He knew that the Agent had to be taken care of in order to obtain the objective that was handed to him a long time ago and he wasn't going to let it slip. 

The M-16's had run out of bullets.  Armand threw them aside and went for the Uzi's that he stuck down his pants and with the lightning blur that was nearly equal to the agent he started to fire once again, but again the agent dodged them all. 

Click-click

The Uzi's had run out of bullets and the attacks had stopped.  The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six kept looking around them at the devastation that was caused.  All the cars around them were riddled with bullet holes, windows cracks, and tires popped.  Among all the damage and destruction, the Agent still stood there, unscathed, not a scratch in his clothes or in his skin cut.  He bent down and picked up his gun as if he had dropped it by accident, that same casual way that anyone picks up anything while the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were dumbfounded by all the attempts that they had made. 

The agent took aim at Armand and made his shots. 

One….

Two…

Three…

Then something surprising happened, Armand himself had turned into a black blur as the bullets were fired.  The next image of him that anyone had seen was him lying down on the ground with the bullet scratches in his black clothes.  Lying upon the asphalt of the parking lot, the Agent had approached him.  He brought about his gun and aimed it at his head.

"Only human."  He said to himself but as he took aim, there was a click behind him.  He looked and there she was; Fujiko Mine standing there in her sexy fuchsia dress with her hand gun pointing directly at the Agents head. 

"Dodge this."  She said as she pulled the trigger.  The gun ringed out and the agent fell over in one swift action onto his back.  As he lied there upon the asphalt, his visage began to vanish as if it were just an illusion and in his place was a young boy.  The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six gathered around his body.  They saw that from the looks of him, he was no more than 14 years old with that wound in his head, pieces of his skull and brains scattered across the asphalt and the blood beginning to pool all around him.

It seemed horrific, even to those in the group who have killed people.  Killing someone who had the intention of killing them was one thing, but to kill someone like that and to see that it was just a mere boy? 

"Wait a minute…"  Gene said as he looked at the body, "Didn't we just kill an older guy?"

Armand got himself back to his feet, "This is the power of the enemy."  He said as he gathered up his guns and dusted off his black clothes.  "What you just saw is an Agent, complements of the Obsessed." 

"What'd you mean, kid?"  Jigen asked and said very angrily, "Cut the crap and come clean."

"Like I said before," Armand said calmly, "My name is Armand el Mariachi; I'm a weapon smith and one of the guards to the one true king of Mydar."

"Woah, back up there."  Lupin stopped Armand, "A weapon smith, a guard, the true king of Mydar?  This is getting a little weird for me."

"Maybe so, but all of you have been brought here for one reason."  Armand explained

"What reason is that?"  Gene asked

"To free the one true kind of Mydar.  He did open the doors for you."

"More like fell through."  Fujiko grimaced when she thought about falling through that hole in the shower. 

"Please, come with me."  Armand instructed as he gathered up his weapons and his guitar case, "I have a small place where we can have a little drink and discuss this a little more." 

To be continued…


	14. The Mines of Midas

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 14: The Eastern Group**

**The Mines of Midas **

- - -

To the East of the town of Rachel, over the Misty Mountains, past the Martyr's Plains, there was the Elvish city of Riverden where the Fellowship of the Gundam was once again formed. This time including the children of the Preventers, the ones that their parents had hoped would never have to pilot a mobile suit, but they did anyway. The Shuffle Alliance, The Preventers, and the Preventer Teens were fed and prepared for their journey towards the Dark Tower that lied at the center of Mydar.

It was during the early morning when the plans were set. They all had met in Lord Hyrule's study to look at a map of Mydar. The Elvish king's study was massive, every wall was a bookshelf and no shelf was empty, only filled with books of all kinds. Some of them telling of the history of Mydar, ancient knowledge of the Elves, and even some cookbooks of Elvish cuisine. The room also had two balconies that went out to look over the river that poured from the waterfall. Throughout the study there were several tables littered with books, projects, pots, and vats filled with all kinds of compounds.

Hyrule had cleared one of the tables to bring out a map of Mydar, and the Fellowship gathered around it. They saw how expansive the lands of that place were, poked with mountain ranges, forests, roads, rivers, and towns. Gandalf pointed to the far right edge of the map where there was a dot that read, "Riverden" above it.

"We will start here." Gandalf said with his finger on the dot that was Riverden, "From here we shall move to the Northwest towards the Misty Mountains. We cannot go around it, because they Obsessed will expect that as well as us going over it with the Gundams."

"If we can't go around or over the mountain." Domon speculated, "Then how are we going to get there?"

"We're going to go through the mountain." Gandalf answered

"Then you're suggesting…" Hyrule said his voice sounding deep and heavy with knowing the gravity of what Gandalf was going to propose next.

"I know, Lord Hyrule." Gandalf said, "I wouldn't go through that place unless I had no other alternative, but in our situation it is dire. So we must go through here."

Gandalf's long finger pointed to a place at the foot of the Misty Mountains where there was a dot that read, "The Gates of Midas".

"The Gates of Midas?" Johan asked, "What's there?"

"Let us not worry about that now." Hyrule said, "We will pack your core landers for the journey, we will also give each of you a driver to take the core landers back to your ship."

"You're very generous to us, Lord Hyrule." Johan bowed

"For the freedom to the people of Mydar, we the Elves will do everything we can to help." Gandalf the Gray started to look around the room among the faces of the Fellowship and noticed that there was one member missing. Even though he was an old man, he wasn't exactly the kind that could be easily fooled. His sharp mind already knew who it was that was missing. It was the Elvish warrior, Link.

"Where could he be?" He asked himself.

- - -

The place where Link was wasn't too far from where the Fellowship was preparing and planning for the quest ahead of them. He knew that this mission was important, but he had to attend to a very personal matter, one that concerned him and the Princess Zelda. He had met the princess in the garden of Lord Hyrule's house. The garden itself was as much a piece of nature as the house itself tried to imitate. All around them there were rocks carefully planted but looked as though it had been there for centuries. Stepping stones in the water of a small pond, plants all around them of so many different varieties, and fireflies that were already burning in the morning light as they float from leaf to leaf.

The two Elves stand there on the stepping stones only a breath between them. They spoke to each other, whispering sweet nothings in that beautifully song-like Elvish tongue to each other. It seemed rather funny on a certain level, pillow talk in Elvish. Yet, their discussion moved onto something deeper.

"I still remember when we first met." Link said in his Elvish tongue

"So do I" Zelda answered back, "we were children, the innocence that we had didn't give way until we were older and that was over two hundred years ago. We did not have the same worries that we do now. It seems that my mother was right that children understand joy it is only adults who understand pain."

"With you here, pain seems like a distant memory."

"I know that, my love, because I feel the same." She looked deeply into her lovers eyes. Yes, these two Elves were lovers, they had been for several years, but they never quite told Lord Hyrule about their romance. Then again Hyrule was no fool; he could see the love that those two had on their faces from a mile away, because he had that in his days of youth with Zelda's mother. He simply allowed them to carry on their secret romance to give them their thrills of it.

"I know that you're concerned about me, my love." Link whispered

"You know of the dangers that are at the tower." Zelda warned, "I fear for your life and the lives of the Fellowship. I don't want to loose you."

"I will return…I promise you that."

"You cannot promise what is uncertain, Link, but I shall be waiting here for you. Please, take this."

Her delicate hand had been placed over Links rough and worked hand. Into it she dropped something that was very previous to her. Link felt it trickle down into his hand; he opened it and looked at it. There he saw a golden chain that had her pendant. The pendant itself was gloriously beautiful. Spun gold and silver in such an intricate pattern that looked like an odd shaped heart with the swirling of gold, silver, all making their grip upon the precious jewel in the center of it. Link knew of this pendant. It was something that was passed down through Zelda's family for countless Elven generations. It was something that Zelda's mother gave to her before she was killed in an attack by the Obsessed all those years ago. Link grasped it in his had.

He opened his mouth about to say something to his beloved, but Zelda brought her finger over his lips.

"Shhh." She whispered, "You don't have to say anything." She leaned in and kissed her Elvish warrior.

- - -

The Fellowship of the Gundam were loading up their core landers for their journey to the Dark Tower, but before they had left for their journey towards the mountains. Princess Zelda had something very special for a few members of the Fellowship. She brought them all gifts of the Elves to aid them upon their journey.

For the "Sword bearer" Johan, he was given a crystal clear piece of smooth glass that looked like a bottle. Johan looked into its glassy depths and felt mesmerized by it. For it seemed so bright even though it was broad daylight over Riverden. The thing in his hand seemed to make its own kind of light as if it was a star captured into a bottle.

"I give you, The Light of Arawen," Zelda had presented this gift to him, "Use this well in dark places when all other lights are gone."

Johan had bowed to the Elvish Princess.

She then brought out another bottle shaped object, but unlike The Light of Arawen, this bottle did carry something within it. She took it to the Fellowship and handed it to the Fellowships doctor, Rain Mikamura Kasshu. Placing the bottle in her hand, Rain looked at it to see that there was a very odd reddish liquid in it that looked like red ink but seemed very thick to be ink. She looked back to Zelda who explained to her what it was.

"I give you the Fairies Water" Zelda had told Rain, "With this you may be able to heal anyone who is injured or ill, no matter how forgone their condition may be."

"Thank you." Rain had said to the elf.

Zelda had then brought out another wonderful gift. This time it was a flute, a golden flute that burned with its own metallurgic glory, but even with the shimmering gold, it too seemed to have its own kind of inner light. The Elvish Princess brought this gift to Trowa Barton. She handed the flute to the Gundam pilot. Trowa picked it up, even though he was amazed at what he was seeing, he still kepted that neutral look upon his face.

"For you Trowa Barton, I give the Flute of Olympus." She said, "When playing this flute, you may put any dragon, beast, or living machine to sleep."

Trowa looked deeper at the flute and saw the uniqueness to it.

"I will guard it with my life." Trowa said with his own cold kind of reverence

The next gift that Zelda had given was a shield. It was a rather small shield, comparatively speaking to a regular shield which nearly covers a person's whole upper body when held close to the chest. The shield that Zelda had brought to the Fellowship was a little larger than a dinner plate. It also was golden like the flute she had given to Trowa, yet the shield was speckled with jewels of all kinds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and opals. All of the jewels arranged in a pattern like formation as it came down to the Ruby stud in the center. She brought this glorious looking shield to Quatre.

"Quatre Raberba Winner, I give you the Shield of Saturn, forged from its mystic rings it can ward off any dark magic spell."

Quatre gently took the shield, "Thank you, very much. Princess Zelda."

The last gift she gave was brought out by two Elvish servants to the Princess. They had brought out a very large wooden box made of the darkest wood but was carved with such great detail illustrating great battles that were fought like a tapestry mural. Zelda reached down and lifted the lid of the box to reveal the treasures inside. Link's eyes went wide with what he saw in there. He reached down and pulled them out one by one. The first item he brought out was a sword belt, scabbard, and sword itself. He unsheathed it to see the bluish metallic glow to it.

"Link, Warrior of the Elves. I give you the weapons that belonged to the greatest warriors that have come before you. First, the Sword of Michael, with it you may cut through the strongest steel and iron."

Link had then put the belt around his waist in favor of his new weapon. His hands then reached down into the box for the next item and he brought out a shield a great shield with red griffins on a blue background holding a great triangle in the center.

"The Shield of Ariel." Zelda had introduced, "The shield is light as a feather and harder than any stone on Earth."

Link had found the leather strap within the shield and had thrown it over his back as he went for the very last item in the box. From the great wooden box that the Elven servants had brought, Link had taken out a smaller wooden box. He opened it to find a great jeweled orb.

"This I give you our greatest weapon." Zelda had announced, "The Holy Hand Grenade of Antiok. Use this weapon wisely, Link."

"Thank you my Princess." Link said as he knelt before his love and princess.

With a few last gifts to give to the whole of the Fellowship was their greatest loaf of bread. One slice of it and the eater will never be hungry again for a week. Then she gave cloaks to all the members of the Fellowship, made of a material that can be cool on the hottest of days and warm on the hottest of nights. With all the gifts that were given to the Fellowship it seemed as if they were like soldiers being drafted to fight a great enemy overseas. Some members who knew enough of Earth's history had read about this sort of thing how young men had to leave their homes behind to fight for a greater good. Even with the gifts given, the Princess wanted to do one last thing for the Fellowship.

She requested that Johan would come to her chambers. At first Johan was rather leery, she may be an elf but she was still a woman. For Johan being a married man with two children and having a woman requesting him to come to her chambers, it does perk up some suspicions about what may occur. Yet, when he came to Zelda's chambers, he found out that there really was nothing malicious or self-intent about what she was doing.

Zelda's chamber was much like Hyrule's study. It was a great room that was filled with all kinds of books, chairs and tables. She sat at one of the tables with a deck of cards in her hand that she was shuffling like a Vegas card dealer. Johan came over and sat down in the chair across from her and she began to deal the cards face down in a V-formation like planes flying over an air-show. As soon as she was done she looked at Johan who seemed to already know what it was about.

"You're going to tell me the future?" He asked

"No." Zelda had told him, "I'm simply giving you a map. What choices you will make upon the path will be up to you, Johan Rodriguez of Preventer."

"Then let's see what the path holds for me."

There were seven cards in that V-formation. Zelda went to the first card on her left of the formation and turned it over. Zelda looked at the picture seeing a man standing upon a path with three swords carefully placed on either side of the path totaling six. The man was looking down the path which stretched onward towards the horizon where the sun was beginning to rise.

"The Six of Swords." Zelda had read the Elvish text at the bottom of the card, "From this card I see this as a spiritual journey. A long hard road ahead, but it is filled with hope."

She went to the next card on her left and turned it over and in the picture on that card she saw a wizard sitting at a table with a scattering of evenly placed wands in front of him.

"The Ten of Wands" Zelda introduced, "I see tribulation and oppression ahead, many are and will suffer."

She went to the next card, she turned it over and gazed at the picture. Seeing a great horned and winged red beast sitting upon a throne covered in blood upon a hill of skulls. She looked at the card with great fear about it.

"The Devil." She said with agitation, "There is a great evil in the path ahead of you and you must face it."

She turned over the next card in the V-formation, "Eight of Swords. Challenge, you will challenge this great evil that lies in the path and who is also causing the great suffering."

She reached for the next card, and as she turned it over Johan started to take in the information that the Elven Princess was telling him. All of it sounding so ominous and for a moment Johan was going to take it seriously. He did see everything of the land of Mydar in that pink pall called the Wizards Glass, whose to say that these things couldn't come true?

Zelda turned the next card over, "Death."

Johan felt himself gasp when he looked at that card. A skeleton dressed in a long black robe, wielding a scythe, and holing an hour glass in his boney hand. As he gasped at this he felt a warm and gentle hand reach over to stroke his cheek.

"Be not afraid, Gundam Pilot." Zelda's voice soothed, "For this shall not be the death of you or anyone close to you. This will be a transformation and a rebirth. You shall be changed forever."

Zelda's hand went back to the cards upon the table. Of the seven cards, only five were tuned over, and two were left, like treasure chests waiting to be opened.

She turned over the second to last card.

"The Tower," she said, "as I said you will challenge the great evil and it will bring about change in you and this card means that there will be release from the evil and oppression."

It seemed rather hopeful to Johan that it wouldn't be all doom and gloom for him. He then waited as Zelda turned over the very last card.

"The World." She said with great relief, "Your journey will come to an end and you shall find peace."

It was for that length of time that Johan believed everything that she was saying. That somehow all of it would come true. Then the rational logical part of his mind kicked in and he thought to himself that he didn't believe in the idea that his life could be controlled. He was in charge of his own destiny.

- - -

The Fellowship was well upon its way to the northwest towards what the map referred to as The Misty Mountains. From what Johan saw, it was clear why they were called that. The Misty Mountains stretched from North to South with such majesty. The very peaks of those mountains were capped with the whitest snow, like an ice cream sundae that had syrup poured upon it. Hovering over the mountains was a blanket of clouds that were so thin that it did seem like mist. It seemed so beautiful that it was hard to believe that there was such a terrible blight upon the land of Mydar.

From what in dashboard computer was telling, the core lander train wasn't too far from the Gates of Midas. Looking at how far they are, some members of the Fellowship couldn't help but look up at the sky to see where the sun was at. It was coming down very slowly to the peaks of the Misty Mountains. They knew from spending their time out in the wilderness of their own worlds that it was coming close to nightfall.

Coming closer to the Gates of Midas, all of them remembered the very ominous warning that was given to them by the warrior Link. During the planning back in Riverden, Link seemed to cringe with fear at the name of Midas. It was then that the most fearless (or cocky depending on how one would want to look at them), Chibodee Crocket and Duo Maxwell had asked Link about this and the Elvish Warrior took on a very ominous tone.

"It is because of this." He said to the Fellowship, "For the entrance to the Gates of Midas is a cave. And the cave itself is guarded by a creature, so foul and so cruel that no man, woman, or elf has fought with it and lived! There are bones of 100 men, women and elves strewn about its layer! So, brave members to the Fellowship of the Gundam, if any of you doubt your courage, all your strength will go no further for death awaits us all with….nasty….big pointy teeth."

Hearing the very over the top warning, Johan had whispered to his wife and children who were listening, "That was a little over the top, wouldn't you say."

Haruka, Julia, and Leto all nodded in silent agreement.

The sun was slowly turning to dusk bringing about its glorious colors against the sky. It's fading golden glory mixing with the dark ominous night that was following it like a hunter chasing its prey. Yet, there was still enough light as the Fellowship had gathered around the place that the map had indicated. The place that the Fellowship had set their core landers looked like a very large version of a volcano that a kid would make for a science fair project. Its steep grassy and rocky slopes going uphill to a singular flat point that seemed to be nearly eroded to show its cracks down downhill. It was there that the Fellowship had gotten out of their core landers.

"The entrance to Midas is too narrow to take the core landers." Gandalf said

Accompanying the Fellowship was a small squad of Elves that Lord Hyrule had ordered to go with them in order to take the core landers back to their ship by the Great Tree in Martyr's Plain. The Fellowship had shook hands with the Elvish Drivers and thanked them for this favor.

"For the Freedom of Mydar." One of the Elves had said as they all boarded the core landers and headed south leaving the Fellowship to enter the Gates of Midas.

They climbed up the steep volcano-like slopes to the top. There they saw that the steep slopes were only half of it. At the top of the volcano-like slopes, it could be seen that it was an Earth made wall that blocked view of the cave entrance which was set down the rough and rocky slopes and a good set of yards to the caves entrance. The whole area with the slopes and the cave entrance was much like a Greek Amptheater with the slopes as the seats and stairs, with the caves entrance and flat area in front of it like the stage. It was there in that stage like area that the Fellowship had seen what Link was talking about.

Down upon the stage there was dark moss that was covering bones, clear and clean cut bones. All of them scattered across the stage, piling upon one another like bone wastes from a slaughterhouse after all the precious meat had been stripped away from them. All of them human or human-like. It was hard to tell with all the scattering of different bones, rib cages here, skulls there, and some other countless bones that had odd sounding names.

"Dear God." Domon said as he looked down into the graveyard stage, "What kind of creature could do this?"

"Who knows?" William Maxwell asked, "Let's get going before it comes"

"Too late!" Link said, "Everyone get down!"

The Fellowship went down upon the dirty ground of the steep slopes behind the steps and stage of the creatures Amputheater. They brought their heads over the edge of the slope they looked for whatever it was that Link was talking about.

"Where is it?" Sai-Saici asked

"There!" Link pointed down the caves entrance as they Fellowship saw something small, white, furry hop its way out of the dark caves entrance. Squinting, they looked down and saw what it was. It was a small white rabbit. Yes, it was a white rabbit that was hopping around down there upon the graveyard stage amongst all the bones that this creature that Link was talking about had eaten.

"Where?" Trowa asked, "Behind the rabbit?"

"It is the rabbit." Link answered

Already the silliness of the situation had descended upon the Fellowship. The rational parts of their minds had already kicked in and they decided to put all fears aside that the Elf had told them.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" Chibodee insulted

"What?" Link asked very shocked at what Chibodee had said to the greatest Elvish Warrior of Mydar.

"You got us all pumped up and ready for action and we get this?"

"That's no ordinary rabbit!" Link contended, "That's the foulest, cruel, and bad tempered creature you ever set eyes on."

"You bastard!" Sai-Saici backed up the insult, "You scared me nearly half to death with what you were talking about!"

"Look that things a killer!" Link still contended to his story

"What's the worst it can do?" Hikaru Yuy asked, "Nibble our asses off?"

"I'd listen to Link if I were you." Gandalf advised

"Ok, that's it. I'm going in!" Hikaru said as she brought out her beam saber, "One rabbit stew coming right up for all of us tonight!"

She activated her beam saber as she made her way down the dusty and rocky slope to meet with the creature that seemed so harmless to the eyes of the Fellowship. At least to those who were Gundam pilots, but Gandalf and Link knew better about this.

As Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy took her steps towards the rabbit back at the top of the hills, Link pointed down into the Graveyard Stage, "Look!" He quietly shouted

Down on the Graveyard Stage, Hikaru looked down at the rabbit, still thinking to herself why there was so much concern about such a small creature. How could such a small thing do so much damage, if in fact it was this creature that was causing all this trouble? Then it was answered when the rabbit took its position and leaped straight at Hikaru as if it were launched by a catapult. Luckily Hikaru's reflexes had acted just in time when she saw the rabbit coming right for her. A little genetic trait she inherited from her father and trained through her years, she ducked out of the way of the rabbit, and just as that happened she dashed out of the Graveyard Stage back up to where the Fellowship sat.

"Oh my god" Hikaru gasped, "That's no rabbit!"

"I warned you!" Link said with a thick hint of sarcasm, "I warned you, but did you listen to me oh no, you didn't. _It's just a harmless little bunny_, you said. I always try to warn people but no one listens to me."

"Alright!" Johan groaned, "We were wrong and you were right, but how do we deal with this?"

"We can't risk another frontal assault." Heero assessed

"That would increase our losses and we cannot afford that." Trowa analyzed

"Why don't we try shooting at it?" Hikaru suggested

Link shook his head, "With the way that rabbit jumps we'd simply miss."  
"What do we do then?" Chibodee asked in his own frustration

Link thought back and for some reason his thoughts went back to his love; Princess Zelda. When he thought about her, something came up in his mind like a whale breaching to the surface.

"The Holy Hand Grenade!" Link suggested proudly with his light bulb idea

"What?" Duo asked

"The Holy Hand Grenade of Antiok" Link repeated as he reached into his leather knapsack and pulled out the wooden box. He opened it revealing the jeweled orb that had the diamond cross set on top of it like a crown. He took it out and held it in his hand.

"How does that thing work?" Wufei asked with his own sarcasm believing that such a weapon would never work.

Link reached back into his knapsack and pulled out a small book, "The Book of Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one." Link remembered as he looked through the Book of Armaments that was written by the elves about all kinds of weapons that they had made that were used in times of war. He looked through it and came upon the passage that he was looking at.

"Saint Legolas raised the Hand Grenade upon high saying, 'Oh Lord, Bless this hand grenade but with it thou may blow thy enemies to tiny bits….in thy mercy'. And the lord did grin and the people did feat upon the lambs, sloths, carp, anchovies, breakfast cereals, fruit bats, and…"

"Skip that please, Link." Gandalf had asked the Elf

"Right." Link said as he skipped through the passage coming to the most needed part, "And the lord spoke saying, 'first, thou shalt take out the Holy Pin and thou shall count to three. No more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count and the number of the counting shall be three. Four thou shalt not count, neither count two, excepting thou then proceed to three….five is right out! Once the number three being the third number be reached then lobbeth thy Hand Grenade of Antiok towards thy foe, but with it not in my sight shall snuff it."

"Seems pretty straight forward" Domon observed.

Link had placed the Book of Armaments back in his knapsack and took the Holy Hand Grenade firmly in his hand. He reached for the Holy Pin, the diamond encrusted cross on top of the jeweled orb. He pulled it from the orb which then began to smoke and spark like sparklers on the Forth of July.

"One….two….three!" Link counted and threw the Holy Hand Grenade at the rabbit and it exploded with such a great bang sending out fleshy bits of fur and blood in every direction of the Graveyard Stage. They saw that the path was clear and so the Fellowship went down the rocky slopes down to the bony covered ground where the weight of their bodies crushing the bones under their boots. Saying a small apology to the long since departed, the Fellowship moved on into the Darkness of the cave. They all went down into the cave, but they felt as though the Darkness was a creature swallowing them whole to be digested for a thousand years.

As the light became a simple dot behind them, one member of the Fellowship noticed something. It was Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez who noticed something was glowing right next to her, it was faint like a thin cloth covering a lamp shade. She looked to where it was and found it was coming from her father, Johan.

"Dad." She called, "What's that in your pocket?"

Johan looked and he found a light coming from within one of the pockets in his jacket. He reached in, his fingers casting shadows across the light that was coming from within his pocket. He pulled it out and found that it was the gift that the Princess Zelda had given him, the Light of Arawen.

"It may be used in dark places when all other lights go out." Johan repeated as the glass thing in his hand gave off light brighter than anything he had ever seen. Though the other members of the Fellowship had gotten a similar idea and brought out their beam sabers which sent out a multi-colored glow throughout the cave. Even Gandalf took out a small crystal from his robe and placed into his wooden staff which glowed in the same way as the other lights in the cave.

The Fellowship felt like rescue workers going down to save someone who had fallen into pit. Yet, with all the lights that were glowing within the cave, they all had noticed something. The floors, they were even and flat like a road. Unlike the outside that was rough and rocky the floors inside the cave were smooth as if whoever built that place wanted cars to go through it. It was an oddity in such a place, but they kept moving forward.

After traveling down into the darkness for what felt like fifteen minutes, the Fellowship had reached the Gates of Midas. With the multi-colored glow of the beam sabers as well as the white lights from Johan's Elvish gift and Gandalf's crystal, they saw the doors to be enormous and golden. In approaching the gate it was seen how the ceiling was sloping upward to the golden doors. They saw several symbols going vertically down the doors where there was a seam in the middle of them denoting that the doors opened from the middle. They saw above the symbols were strange letters arching over them like a rainbow over a landscape.

"What are these strange letters?" George DeSand asked

"It's the language of the miners." Gandalf explained, "It reads, _Here__ is the doorway to the __kingdom__ of __King Midas__. Bring gold to enter."_

"What does that last part mean, is the question." Kaworu pointed out

"Simple." Link smiled, "Just speak the password." He came to the golden gates and placed his hand upon the golden doors that shimmered in the lights like nothing that the Fellowship had ever seen before. "The password is the Elvish word for gold."

"Which is what?" Argo asked

"_Kulu__._" Link spoke and immediately the great golden doors had opened to a greater darkness within.

"We now face the long dark of Midas." Gandalf said with an ominous tone, "Be on your guard, there are older and fouler things in the bowels of the world. It's a two day journey. Let's hope our presence goes unnoticed."

With what they had faced at the cave with the killer rabbit, the Fellowship did feel a little on edge. The world that they had come to was very strange through and through. First meeting each other, but of course that was quite the joyous event since the Preventers and the Shuffle Alliance were very happy to see each other once again. Then came the wizard who led them to meet the elves and along the way they had run into a group called The Techno-Wraiths. Of course, the elves were very hospitable to them, which was always a plus in coming to a new and unknown place. Yet, there were still questions among them about what lied ahead, what was the Dark Tower that they spoke of? It seemed that only three members of the Fellowship knew about this, Gandalf the Gray, Link, and Johan only knew the more explicit details.

- - -

The first day through the Mines of Midas was thankfully uneventful. Since there was still very little light coming through Gandalf kept his crystal atop of his staff while Johan kept out his Elvish gift to let the Fellowship know where to step and where not to. That was especially true when they had passed one bridge that spanned over a great canyon that led down and down into the deep darkness of the mines where God only knows what was down there.

Looking down into the darkness, the canyon was so deep that even the slightly childish Sai-Saici tried to toss a rock down into it. He felt that it was some kind of trick to make them scared, but as he tried to listen for the rock to hit something, he heard nothing. Seconds passed and still nothing and that was when Sai-Saici knew that nothing was setup in that place.

With the lights that the Fellowship had, they saw how empty the mines were. There was hardly a soul around; unlike Riverden there was no one to greet them at the gates. It just felt like some kind of abandoned ghost town. That question was addressed around the first campfire the Fellowship had in the mines.

"Many ages ago" Gandalf had started the campfire story to answer the Fellowships question about the mines, "there was a king named Midas who came to the one true king of Mydar and asked him for one request. To have the ability to turn anything into gold with a single touch, but the king of Mydar refused his request telling him that such a wish would have dire consequences. Yet, King Midas was persistent in his request. So appealing to his good nature, the King of Mydar granted Midas' wish. He had received the Golden Touch and with this gift he came down here into these mines where the gift and the curse had consumed him. With every wall he touched in these mines they turned to gold and he worked the miners to death in these empty halls. The labor of the miners had brought forth riches of such majesty that they only equal the riches in the King of Mydar's vault.

"With all the riches that his gift could give him, the gift had brought about a terrible consequence. Because the king could not touch anything without turning it to gold, he starved to death."

"What about the miners?" Quatre had asked the wizard

"I believe that's a story for another time." Gandalf said with a grandfathers concern.

That night in the Mines of Midas, while beyond the rocky walls there were others who were working towards the walls, the light of the fire burned brightly so much that the Fellowship no longer needed to use their light sources as the beam sabers or the magic items of Gandalf and Johan. Some members of the fellowship had a slice of the Elvish bread that they were given and shared stories in a manner of catching up. At least some of them did. Johan (the Sword Bearer of the Fellowship) sat on the outskirts with his back towards the fire and looking at the sword he was supposed to carry to the Dark Tower. As he gazed at the sword in its sheath, from behind him his dear and loving wife Haruka came over and sat by him.

"What's on your mind, Johan?" She asked

"This sword." Johan answered without even looking at his wife; with her at his side he unsheathed it revealing its gleaming blade with the light from the fire behind him. It seemed like the sword itself was a jewel harvested from the bowels of the earth like the gold and jewels that men have gone crazy trying to bring to the surface.

"It's beautiful." Haruka observed with it, "But why did it choose you?"

"That's what's been bothering me for most of the day." Johan answered, "I really don't know. Maybe it was because of my contact with the Wizards Glass that gave me a view of this place, or perhaps this whole time in the office of Preventer and encountering these people from alternate worlds it was preparing me for this. But why me, that is still the big question on my mind."

Johan's mind was like a torrent ever since he left Riverden with the sword in his hand. For some reason the sword felt unusual and comforting at the same time. Unusual that such an inanimate object would choose him as its bearer but comforting while he carried it as if it was an old friend that he had lost and then found again.

"Mom. Dad." A young voice called out to Johan and Haruka. The two of them turned around and they saw their daughter, Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez. She stood there with a look on her face as if something very deeply painful was troubling her and she was desperately seeking someone to help comfort her.

"Yes, Julia?" Haruka asked her daughter

"Mom, can I speak with dad alone for a moment?"

Haruka felt rather awkward by her daughters request, she felt that since Johan and she were a couple that they could handle their children's problems together. Yet, there was something in that look that Julia had of her face, Haruka seemed to know as well as understand it. She knew that when she told her parents that she wanted to go into the Oz military to be a mobile suit pilot, back in the days before the Gundams came to Earth. She looked back at Johan and got up and left them to go back to the fire's side with the rest of the Fellowship.

Johan patted the rock, "Sit down, Meha." He said gentle in that fatherly tone that he developed over the years since she and her brother were born.

Julia sat down next to her father.

"What's bothering you?" Johan asked his daughter

"I have a confession to make." Julia said as she looked at her hands in her lap almost as if she were hanging her head in shame.

Johan placed his arm around his daughter, "Meha, whatever you have to say you can tell me."

Julia swallowed hard trying to figure out a way to tell this confession of hers to the one of the most important people in her life. At last she cleared her throat and said those words to her father;

"I'm…" she struggled, "I'm…I'm a…I'm a lesbian." She looked back down at her hands her chin touching her chest, she felt ready to cry, ready to hear the rejection of her father. "I didn't want to tell you because I was too ashamed of this."

She was ready to hear all the reasons why her lifestyle was wicked and to be kicked out, to be cut off from her family. It didn't seem to matter anyway, because the darkness of the Mines of Midas almost made it seem like they weren't going to make it out alive. She knew that it would be better to die then have her family; the ones who loved her all her life, to simply throw her out like garbage.

She then felt something, she felt the other arm of her father wrap around her, bringing her close to his chest where she could feel and hear his heart beating. It was surprising, not like what her friends at school experienced. She did have friends back at the Saint Gabriella Institute that were lesbian, and one of them confessed it to her parents and she was stripped of all privileges and sent to live as a street urchin. What she was experiencing was nothing like that, her father was hugging her. She then heard her father whisper to her:

"Meha," he said, "Whatever you are…you're still my daughter. As long as you find happiness, that's all I can ask of you."

Julia felt the stinging sensation around her eyes and the waters starting to break though. She grabbed her father and hugged him as she wept into his shirt. It was such a happy day, that she finally let out this dark and so-called dirty secret of hers and yet Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez was still Johan's little girl. As she wept into Johan's chest she felt his hand stroking the back of her shortly cut black hair like he did for her in those days when she was young. How Julia would come running home at the age of ten crying how the other children were making fun of her because she was a tomboy. Johan did that very same thing, stroking the back of her head as she was cradled in his arms. She felt such comfort there.

She pulled away from her father drying away her tears while Johan placed his hand atop of Julia's head brushing his fingers through her hair. He smiled as he said, "You know something, Meha?" He asked

"What dad?" Julia asked back

"This brings you closer to your brother." Johan smiled

"Why's that?"

"Because you two will be chasing the same thing and now I know what to get you two for Christmas. A good supply of skin magazines."

"Oh, dad." Julia laughed as she jokingly shoved Johan's shoulder.

Later that night as Julia and Leto were asleep, Haruka had asked Johan what it was that he and Julia spoke about. Johan explained everything about the situation how their daughter Julia was a lesbian. Of course Haruka was very surprised but then Johan told her that no matter what she was, Julia was still their daughter and nothing could take that away from her. Plus Johan brought up the fact that if the two of them ever got married they wouldn't be loosing a son and a daughter, they'd be gaining two daughters.

- - -

It was by the end of the second day through the Mines of Midas that the Fellowship made a discovery that would answer their questions about what happened to that place. After all everything seemed so marvelous despite it being so dark and dank. The halls were constructed in such a way that would equal the wonders of their own worlds, like the Pyramids of Giza. Yet, the people were all gone.

The Fellowship had come to a great hall where the great stone constructed pillars reached heights like those of sky scrapers. It reminded a few of the more cultured members of the Fellowship of an old classical piece called, "In the Hall of the Mountain King". On a certain level they were still expecting to be greeted by creatures much like the Elves of Riverden, but still there was nothing. Just dark emptiness. At least until Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy noticed something on the far left of the great stone hall. There seemed to be a white light coming from there. She went over to it with curiosity in mind but with little fear in her heart. From where the light came she saw a small room that had wooden doors that were partially open. She pushed the doors open that let out a loud creak that echoed through the stone hall. Inside the room that had the white light she made a discovery that made her gasp.

"What is it, Hikaru?" Heero asked his daughter, then he too saw what she had found.

She had found a small room that was strewn with skeletons all over the floor. While the white light was just something that was pouring into the room like water pouring from a spout into a pool. The light came down upon a rectangular stone monument, which was then found out to be a coffin. Upon it were those same strange letters that were written upon the Gate of Midas.

Gandalf looked at it and translated, "Here lies King Midas, ruler of all the Golden Mines."

"And who are all these people?" Domon asked looking at all the skeletons.

Gandalf looked down at one of the skeletons who held a very thick book in his boney arms. He reached down and picked it up and read aloud:

"The creature has eaten most of our men, women, and children. Yet, its hunger is still not satisfied. We've boarded up the gates of this room where our mad king is entombed, but it'll only be a matter of time before it breaks through. It continues to roar its terrible roars in the deep of these mines. Some of us have already cursed our departed king in his grave for releasing this creature upon us because of his lust for the gold."

As Gandalf read the ancient book, the Fellowship looked around the room but dared to not touch anything. At least most of them except for the Gundam Fighter Chibodee Crocket, who saw something in the far corner of the room, he saw a skeleton sitting upon the lip of an old well that had a sword in its hand. The sword itself looked very precious indeed since its hilt had several jewels in it even though the blade was rusted all to hell. Chibodee thought to himself that if he took back some of those gems for his girls that were his team they'd make quite a present for them. He tried to pull the sword away from the old boney hands with the spider webs still sticking to them, but the fragile skeleton didn't want to let go as if its immortal spirit still wanted it. Chibodee tried again as the wizard Gandalf continued to read from the book.

"We can't get out of here." He read aloud, "Our food stuffs have been reduced down to flour, vinegar, and lard. We've all reached an agreement; we must resort to the most unholy of acts in order to survive. We've drawn lots and the one who has drawn the shortest will have to agree to what will happen to him. May God have mercy on our souls for what we are about to do…"

"Rest in peace…you poor devils." William Maxwell whispered his prayer to the departed.

Chibodee Crocket had accomplished his goal. He had pulled away the jeweled sword away from the skeleton that sat upon the lip of the well. As he did it had leaned back and fallen into the deep darkness of the well sending out echoes of it hitting the walls and whatever else was down there. It seemed only several seconds later with the Fellowship staring at him as if asking, _what did you do? _that the noise had ended. Gandalf looked at the Neo-American fighter and slammed the book shut.

"Fool of a Gundam Fighter." The wizard scolded, "Next time you volunteer for a quest make sure not to get in the way so much."

"Hey, I-"

From the depths of the mines the Fellowship had heard a great roar. It echoed through everywhere, every chamber and every hall. It seemed almost like a shriek and a roar at the same time, so piercing and terrifying that every member felt the gooseflesh crawl over every inch of their skin.

"What in God's name was that?" Johan had asked with the fear in his heart

"That is the very answer to your question of what happened to the Miners of Midas." Gandalf answered grimly while holding onto his staff, "The Dreaded Black Beast of Ahhh. An ancient demon with a ravenous hunger…it is a foe beyond all our powers."

"What do we do then?" Quatre asked his voice fluttering

"Run." Gandalf uttered, "Run!"

The Fellowship followed his suggestion to the fullest and ran in the direction that he lead with Link at his side. Gandalf's crystal blazed in the darkness as they all dashed away to the exit that was very near. Soon they would leave the darkness of the mines and rejoin the sun once again. Yet, that roar was still fresh in their minds like tracks left by a heard of buffalo across the wet plains. The very memory of that…unholy of sounds frightened them so much that it motivated them to run even faster to catch up with Gandalf. They soon came to a stony bridge with no guard rails on either side that led straight down into darkness like the one at the beginning entrance of Midas.

"Fly you fools!" Gandalf ordered to the Fellowship as they all crossed the bridge to the other side of the chasm, "Fly!"

Just then they heard that roar and shriek again and in the light of Gandalf's crystal they saw the horror of the Black Beast. They saw a great head with jaws that would rival the ancient sharks of the deep. A mouth that was wide and filled with teeth as it reached the back of its throat. Atop of its mouth were eyes upon eyes, like grapes in a bowl of fruit, each grape was an eye that looked down upon its next meal. Crowning the mouth and the eyes upon eyes were two horns that curved upward like any demon. The head of the black beast was set upon a tiny neck and body that was supported by two stubby legs that equaled its stubby tail. It opened its mouth again to reveal its mouth filled with rows of teeth as it once again let out another terrifying roar and shriek.

As the last member of the Fellowship had passed over the bridge, Gandalf had stayed behind at the mouth of the bridge to face the black beast. He raised his staff that had shown more and more of the Beasts hideous features. He reached his staff up above his head like Moses when he raised the tablets above his head read to break them.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Gandalf had declared as he brought down the staff to the stony floor of the bridge which sent out a flare of white light like a firework that dissipated into the darkness.

The Black Beast had lunged forward with its mouth open ready to devour Gandalf the Gray as its next meal, but as its teeth came down upon the wizard it stopped as if it was blocked by a shield. That wasn't all, the lunge that the Black Beast had made weakened the stony structure underneath its stubby feet and the mouth of the bridge began to give way. As it did the Black Beast tumbled down and down into the darkness while Gandalf stood upon the firm part of the bridge seeing that he won. He turned to face the Fellowship in his victory but not seeing that the Black Beast had opened its mouth and let loose its long frog-like tongue which had stuck itself to the wizard's leg. Gandalf had looked down but his reactions were too slow as he tumbled backward into the darkness, but his old fingers grasped the edge of the steady half of the broken bridge, his old blue eyes looking at the Fellowship.

"GANDALF!" Johan shouted out as he tried to go help Gandalf, but his wife and children stopped him from making a foolish mistake.

Johan had come to know Gandalf the Gray in those two days that they had spent in the Mines of Midas. The Gundam pilot had told Gandalf how much he wished that all this wasn't happening to him, but he also knew that it had to be done. _We sometimes must do what's required of us,_ Gandalf had told Johan that first day they came into the Mines. It was as if Gandalf had become Johan's second father, or at least everyone's favorite uncle that makes the house a great place to be when he visited. Even in that time of doubt, Gandalf had told Johan; _when your heart feels down, think of pleasant things._ So, Johan tried to think of the various wonderful things in his life, his wife, his children, even certain foods, sushi, and rolls in sweet butter. It reminded Johan of those pieces of fatherly advice that his dad gave him before the beginning of Operation Meteor and that felt comforting for the time that he, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship were in those mines.

Gandalf hung for dear life to say one last thing to the Fellowship, "Fly you fools!" He whispered loudly to them before he let go and fell down into the darkness of the chasm with the Black Beast of Ahhh.

"NO!" Johan screamed as he tried to break free of his families grip, but they pulled him back as they made their way to the exit gate. When they got there, the gates were huge and golden like the entrance. As they stood there Link had used the same word that opened the Entrance gate and the exit opened to the glorious sunshine beyond. Even with such a great blessing as the sun the Fellowship soon felt lost and alone without Gandalf the Gray, their friend and wizard.

With heavy hearts, the Fellowship continued on to a town at the foot of the Misty Mountains with the Elvish Warrior Link as their guide. The success of their quest seemed to stand on the edge of failure, but all of them knew that they had to go on or else Gandalf's death would have been for nothing.

To be continued…


	15. Blaine the Mono

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 15: The Western Group**

**Blaine the Mono **

- - -

Far to the West, away from the Misty Mountains and the tragedy of loosing Gandalf the Gray, there was another group that was coming close to something as well. It was at the edge of the Dark Forest of Ewin, there was a small town called Hilldale. A rather peaceful little hamlet near the river with the only method of transportation to that town was by the train that ran across the tracks that stretched for hundreds of miles from the City of Nash in the northeast.

Hilldale wasn't really anything huge or spectacular, just a few buildings for the main town while the houses were speckled around it, yet the trees of the forest were cleared away to make room for the town itself. The buildings that were in the center of the town were places like the restaurant called, "Diner", not a very creative but a straightforward name nonetheless. Then there was the courthouse that was set next to the diner. It was a simple structure that really had very little cases coming through it, the most problems that they've had were roudy drunks at the bar. The courthouse had a circular quad in front of it with little walkways dissecting it into four sections with a monument in the center of it. The monument was a simple stone rising like an obelisk with the names of the explorers who trekked their way from the City of Nash to the west and settled there in the place that would be called Hilldale. Then there was the Bar which was called, "The Red Moon", where most of the towns' cases happen. Then there were the general stores providing all kinds of goods and needs that the people could use. Yet, the biggest part of Hilldale was on the Eastern side of it, the Train Station.

The Station for Hilldale was the largest building in the entire town with their prized train coming and going from it. The train was called, "Blaine the Mono", the most advanced piece of transportation equipment ever created. It is said amongst the towns' people of Hilldale that they don't even need a conductor anymore, Blaine does it all.

Yet, the peacefulness of Hilldale was in the past, until _they_ came, much like every town and city in Mydar. Peaceful towns became fearful ones. People came and went from place to place but always in fear seeing the guards clad in black armor standing watch at the courthouse and at the train station making sure that no one in Hilldale stepped out of line.

Inside the Station amongst the small crowd of people coming and going, going and coming there were some chairs near the platform like the chairs near the gates at airports. It was there that one man sat waiting for his friend to come.

This man sat alone in his seat near the platform gate eating his small box of popcorn spitting out the loose kernels that got stuck in his teeth into to one of the empty boxes. This was Bartleby. He was quite a handsome kind of man with shortly cut black hair that gave a vague idea of the shape of his head. His brow was wide, his eyebrows narrow, his nose was thin, and he had a small cleft in his narrow chin. He looked ahead at the platform gate that had the number seven above its doorway seeing the people come in and out of it. His ears listened as he heard the young, smooth, and slightly cocky voice of his friend approaching. Bartleby threw back his head in just pure humorous frustration that his friend is on this atheist trip again. Yet, he continued to listen as the very shaken voice of the person he was talking to admitted that he was right.

"What am I doing?" The person asked

"Hey, you know what you can do, just go out and have fun. Because that's all life is, a series of moments. So seize yours."

Bartleby waited as his friend came around and sat down next to him. This was Loki, a man roughly the same age as Bartleby, who had short and shaggy blonde hair that came over his slightly protruding and wide forehead. His nose was wide which crowned his over all face which was very gaunt. He looked over at his friend with his beady blue eyes and smiled very greedily as he reveled in his victory of converging a faithful person.

"You know here's what I don't get about you." Bartleby started, "You know for a fact there's God, you serve him, you've been in his presence and he's spoken to you, and you were on your atheist thing again."

Loki laughed, "I just love to fuck with these people who are blindly faithful. I just _love it,_ I love to keep these people on their toes, but what about you coming here man? You know the Obsessed are out to get us and the rest of our comrades, and here you are in one of the most guarded places in town."

"Because my friend, they would never think of looking for us here." Bartleby explained, "And here is humanity at its best."

"Yeah, right. Being around people who step over you so they don't miss the train and being around kids who equal the ones at Denny's, what's so pleasant about that? And it's no better since the Obsessed took over."

"Hey, watch it. They could be listening." The cautious Bartleby warned, "But here, take a look at that couple."

He pointed over at the gate he was sitting near, seeing a couple hugging and kissing each other. Both of them just so happy to be with one another, yet Bartleby knew better.

"Yeah, what about them?" Loki asked

"Well, what he doesn't know is that while he was away at the City of Nash, she was cheating on him."

"Really?" Loki asked with great intent

"Four times with his sister and his best friend."

"Nice."

"But that really doesn't matter." Bartleby tried to illustrate his point, "What matters at this moment that they're so happy to be with one another. And I'll remind you that as you clearly put life's a series of moments and this is one of them. I like that. How all that distrust and suspicion vanishes in that one moment when they look at one another. Kinda makes me wish that life was more like that all the time."

Loki just felt frustrated by all of this nonsense that Bartleby was spouting about these people, "This is why I had to come here, so I had to miss my fuckin' cartoons, to share with your half-assed obsession with grab-ass Oprah hallmark moments?"

Bartleby shook his head as he reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled out a roll of paper, "Nope, my friend. We're going back home." He handed the roll of paper to Loki who looked down at it once and then back at his friend with that same vacant expression as if asking what he was supposed to do with it.

"Quite glaring at me, Loki." Bartleby pleaded, "Otherwise people are going to think I just broke up with you…and badly too." He let out a small snigger as he unrolled the paper for his friend.

"I thought you said we were going back."

"We are; I just received this bird message from our comrade Jake Chambers the Key Master saying that he met the members of our new army and he's leading them here."

Loki took the unrolled paper and read it to himself:

_Bartleby and Loki,_

_The doors have been opened by our master; the Anime's of different worlds have come to Mydar. I'm currently leading the Kenshin-Gumi and the Peace Guns to the town of __Hilldale__. From there we should be able to take the train to the City of __Nash__. Meet us at the Diner. We should be arriving in the afternoon on the 3rd. _

_Jake Chambers the Key Master_

"Outstanding work!" Loki smiled as he handed the paper back to his friend. He pulled back the sleeve of his right arm to look at the day on his digital watch, "The third…that's today."

"Exactly and they should be arriving here pretty soon." Bartleby observed, "Let's go meet them."

"Man, we're finally going back." Loki smiled, "If I had more time then I'd go get laid."

"Easy there my friend, we're going to need all the strength we can."

And so Bartleby and Loki left the Hilldale Train Station sneaking past the black guards of the Obsessed. They left behind the noise and bustle of the station while the shadows of the Obsessed guards still haunted the minds and hearts of the people within as well as all around Mydar.

- - -

Less than a mile outside of Hilldale, the Kenshin Gumi, the Peace Guns, their guide Jake Chambers had broken through the last line of trees in the Dark Forest of Ewin. Looking from behind the trees of the forest they only saw bright light coming from in between the trunks while only a little bit of light came through the leaves and branches above them. The first one to break through the edge of the forest was Jake who stood at the edge while the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns gathered around him.

"Hey, why'd you stop, Jake?" Sano asked

"Look." Jake pointed to the town ahead of them. Even though the town was half a mile away they could still see that various points were black guards, at least they assumed so since they could only see black figures between buildings.

"Hmm, I see your point." Kenshin observed, "With those guards there it'll be hard to get in."

"For you, no." Jake pointed out, "They won't be looking for you but they will be looking for me."

"What'd you suggest?" Kaoru asked with a deep mother-like concern for Jake.

"Another way." Jake said, "There's always another way."

"What'd you mean, kid?" Sano asked

"Here's what all of you will do." Jake outlined, "See those black guards on the far right?"

The Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi looked and saw what Jake mentioned. There was a small dirt path that led from the edge of the forest to where the black figures stood. They saw two of them there just like at two other entrances of the outer edge of town.

"Yes." Vash answered

"All of you head into town through that entrance." Jake instructed

"What if they stop us?" Vash asked in his comedic concern thinking about the horrible things that they could do to them if they were captured.

"I'm sure you and Knives could use a little persuasion upon them." Jake winked at the gunmen as he reached into his back and pulled out that piece of ash he had been carving for the past two nights. They could all see its finely cut four jagged edges as well as the supple s-shape curve it had towards its handle.

"What the hell do you plan to do?" Sano asked very frustrated by Jake's cryptic instructions.

"I'm going to enter the town with the use of this key. I can't explain how, but you'll just have to trust me."

Collectively, they all trusted Jake after all he never steered them wrong before so why would he do that when they've come so far?

"Just go to a place called The Diner and you'll find Bartleby and Loki. You will not know them but they will definitely know you." Jake got up, he patted Vash and Kenshin on the back, "I will see all of you again shortly." And off Jake went back into the Dark Forest of Ewin. With his visage gone amongst the tree trunks and bushes, the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi felt very awkward by the instructions.

"Well, we should follow his instructions that we should." Kenshin smirked

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice in the first place." Sano said as he tried to clean out his ear with his little finger

"We can debate it all we like," Wolfwood pointed out, "but that won't get us anywhere."

"In that case," Meryl asserted, "Let's go."

Meryl and Miss Kaoru both stood up and marched ahead without fear in their eyes all the way across the clearing with their friends and loved ones following behind. All of them prepared for the unexpected. Some of them knew about how the human response system would have what is called, "The Flight of Fight Experience". In that the individual would either stand and fight or run for cover. All of them had prepared themselves for it mentally even though on the surface they appeared calm and confident as they had approached the dirt road and the Black Armored Guards upon either side of the dirt road. The anticipation grew larger and larger as their breaths grew shorter and shorter.

Then something odd occurred, as they had approached the entrance to the town of Hilldale the Black Armored guards didn't move. They didn't bring their spears together to block the path of the Kenshin Gumi or the Peace Guns.

As they passed by the guards they could see the Black Armor with greater detail. The texture of the armor was both black and reflective like mirror lenses for sunglasses or like obsidian that was freshly polished. To the eyes of the Kenshin Gumi, their armor looked strangely samurai-like, but it seemed jagged about its edges like sharp rocks at the bottom of a waterfall. The helmet was spiked as well as if they were horns of some great beast. In their hands was a great spear that had three blades that came together like a three-fingered claw.

Upon their belts were two swords, both at their left side, a katana and a straight edge sword, and twin guns set in holsters that sat upon their armored thighs. It was obvious that they were armed and armored to the teeth. Still, why weren't they stopped? They knew that Jake was the one that they were looking for, but why not them? After all, the gunmen and swordsmen would seem more of a threat than a twelve-year-old boy.

The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns passed through the guards and into the town of Hilldale with very little effort. As they came into it all of them had felt the same way as they did when they went into the Preventers universe. Everything seemed so vastly different than the places that they had been to or the things that they had experienced in the past, the buildings, the people, their clothes, and the things that were running along the streets, all of it so much different. Even to the Kenshin Gumi they couldn't understand very much of what they were seeing. The things that they couldn't understand the most was the signs above the shops all around them, written in a language that they couldn't read.

"Where is this place that Jake was talking about?" Yahiko asked hoping someone would know.

"There it is." Vash said to his friends

Everyone looked to their far left and they saw a small place with windows that showed its interiors filled with people who were eating. Above it there was the sign that read in its English letters, "Diner".

"Jake told us to go in, so let's go in." Vash said with a great smile, "And we'll probably get some food while we're at it."

"Hey, I'm never one to turn down a meal." Sano said as he followed Vash to the Diner.

With the rest of their little band following them, Vash and Sano walked into the diner. Pushing open the glass door which sent out its little cow bell ringing through the entire restaurant. A few faces looking up from their plates of food or cups of coffee to see who it was that entered the restaurant. A few faces had continued to stare at the strangers in the restaurant while the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns looked from stool to stool and booth to booth for the ones that Jake had talked about.

"Hey, Vash!" A voice called out

Vash didn't recognize the voice at all, yet the person who was calling for him knew his name. He turned his head to the far right over to one of the corners where there was one of those booths that were u-shaped to take up the space in the corner. Sitting there were two men dressed in very casual clothes, one was blonde and the other was dark haired. It was the dark haired one that was waving at Vash and signaling him to come and sit down with him and his friend.

The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns came over and sat next to the blonde and dark haired men.

"Welcome to Hilldale." The dark haired one said, "My friend and I know your names but since you don't know ours allow me to fill in that gap. My name is Bartleby and this is my friend Loki."

The blonde haired man smiled at them as he was chewing his gum.

"I still want to know how the hell it is everyone here seems to know our names." Wolfwood's eyes narrowed at the new companions.

"Our master was the one who told us of you all." Loki answered, "Especially the funny escapades of those within Kenshin's group. Like that time that Sano found that great big huge dog."

"Someone's been watching us." Sano assessed

"You could say that." Bartleby shrugged,

"Jake was saying how much this land is in peril," Kaoru said, "But it doesn't seem like it's just fine to me."

"Just fine?" Loki asked, "Of course not. Who wants to dwell on things like that? Why think of the boys in the mines crouched over the chutes? Endlessly pounding away at the rock bringing forth the riches the Earth can give them for the hunger of the Obsessed, worked to death before the age of thirteen. Why think of the little girls who sell themselves to the men, women, and creatures of the Obsessed? To be kept in cages like animals for endless sexual appetites. 'If anyone causes even one of the little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be damned in the depths of the sea!' They must open their eyes and see! They must open their mouths and drown!"

Bartleby placed his hand upon his friends shoulder, "Easy there my friend." He looked to the faces of the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns who seemed to have been so awe struck by the little speech that Loki had made that it made them realize that not everything is what it seems on the surface. Especially with seeing how such a handsome man who seemed to not have a single care in the world have such deep compassion for the things around him.

"You must forgive my friend." Bartleby apologized to the Kenshin Gumi as well as the Peace Guns, "He does tend to get a little passionate about the situation our lands are in."

"It's perfectly understandable." Vash nodded, "There are grave injustices that happen everywhere."

"It seems that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere." Kenshin observed

"Yes, it is." Bartleby agreed, "But getting back to the matter at hand, where's Jake?"

"He said that he would find another way into town and instructed for us to meet you here." Kenshin explained

Loki shrugged, "That's Jake for you, always finding a different way."

"Unfortunately," Bartleby said with a twinge of hopelessness in his voice, "we can't plan our next move without Jake here."

Just as Bartleby had said that a door had opened elsewhere in the restaurant. It wasn't the front entrance door that people had used to come in and out of. It was the door to the bathroom. Of course the Diner did have a bathroom, but it was just one, a simple one that had its standard sink and toilet. The person who came out of that door was the young twelve-year-old boy who was dressed in that charcoal suit and had that backpack on. He walked out while tucking away a key into one of his pockets; he looked around very carefully to make sure that no one would spot him, at least no one who would cause any trouble. He looked over to his far left of the door to the bathroom and there they were.

"Speak of the devil." Loki smiled, "Here's the little rascal now."

Jake's face broke out into a huge smile as if it had been lying dormant inside him like those things about childhood that many adults are forced to bury as they grow older. The young key master walked over to the booth and took his seat, right next to Bartleby and Loki. The smiling Loki rubbed his fingers through Jake's hair messing up his part and every strand of his hair.

"How have you been, Jake?" Loki asked like a very affectionate older brother greeting his younger one.

"We got here in one piece." Jake reported, "Now we can make plans for our next step."

"That parts pretty obvious right now." Loki said as he laid himself back against the plastic seating of the booth placing his arms against the back rest.

"What do we do, at this point?" Kenshin asked

"You see that over there?" Bartleby pointed to the window. The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns looked in that direction and they saw a great building there with people coming in and out of its gates made of steel and glass.

"That's our ticket." Bartleby said, "That's the train station and there we will catch Blaine the Mono who will take us to the City of Nash."

"Damn, I knew that this trip was going to have a train in it." Sano said as he curled himself up, "I just knew it."

"Such superstitious humans" Knives shook his head, "like so many others, thinking that the simplest of devices are products of demons."

"Hey pal!" Sano started up the argument, "You can say what you like I still say that things powered by a ghost!"

"Keep you voices down!" Loki said in a quiet shout

As the argument between the former Sekihotai and the superhuman came down, they soon addressed something very important. Jake.

"With Jake here it'll pose a huge risk for us to get into the station." Bartleby had planned aloud

"Yet, we can't leave him here." Meryl had brought up the catch about the whole situation.

"I think I may have an idea." Millie smiled at Jake

- - -

It had been at least fifteen minutes since the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns had received their instructions from Jake the Key Master to come into the down of Hilldale and meet Loki and Bartleby. The plans and the wheels began to turn in their favor, but since they knew that the guards of the Obsessed would be looking for Jake a plan was devised. Yet, the question of why Jake and not Bartleby and Loki, so Jake had answered this question saying that Bartleby and Loki were in disguise and that's why they weren't recognized it was for this reason why Millie had devised a plan to get Jake into the station.

"Why can't he do the same trick he did in the forest?" Sano asked

"That's too risky." Jake said, "I could come through a door that the Obsessed are already guarding. Millie's plan has to work."

And so it was that the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns with their new guides Bartleby and Loki walked up the steps of the train station. At least some of them walked up, Millie was waddling as her belly was full and her arm was around Wolfwood's. Everyone who passed by Millie kept saying their congratulations to her.

"You must be expecting triplets." One woman said

As for Wolfwood under the disguise of his sunglasses felt the greatest sense of déjà vu in his entire life. After all this same ploy was used a while back when he and the rest of the Peace Guns (with the exclusion of Knives) were traveling in a caravan. There was a dancing girl there who was trying to escape with the love of her life, and so Millie came up with the brilliant plan of hiding the dancing girl underneath her long coat and make it seem as though she were pregnant. Wolfwood felt just embarrassed as hell by the awkwardness of the situation.

"How the hell do I get mixed up in these things?" He asked himself as he tried to reach for a cigarette in his pocket but then grimaced as he remembered that Millie threw them all away. Yet, he smiled again with that déjà vu kicking in, remembering that look on Millie's face as she said that one line to him.

_Second hand smoke is bad for the baby darling._

Meanwhile under the heat of Millie's long coat was Jake who had his face pressed against Millie's midsection and had his feet on top of her shoes, thus the reason why Millie was waddling. He felt ten times more embarrassed than Wolfwood, because there he was a young boy at the edge of puberty underneath a woman's coat, holding for dear life around her waist and his face pressed against her belly. That made the heat even worse as he began to blush with the thoughts of what was underneath Millie's clothes.

"Dear God, get me through this." Jake thought to himself.

Outside, the group came to the ticket booth in the very heart of the train station. Sitting inside the tiny glass booth with marble counter tops was a young man who was just there for a job. Giving out tickets to those who asked for them, never paying any mind to anyone who came by.

"What can I do for you, sir?" He asked Bartleby

"Eleven tickets for Blaine the Mono to the City of Nash." Bartleby asked

The man calculated the total and reported to his customer, "That'll be ninety-one plenax."

Bartleby reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet that was leathery and smooth with the English words on its outer layer that read "Bad Mother Fucker". He thumbed through the paper money inside it and pulled out the appropriate amount needed.

The man inside the booth only saw a glimpse of the words "Bad Mother Fucker", but of course in the course of his job his only concern was actually getting what comes out of a wallet, and not what's on the wallet itself. He watched his customer pull out a one-hundred plenax bill and shoved it through the little opening in the glass. He took the money brought up the right amount of change and gave the tickets along with it.

"Enjoy your trip." The man in the booth said

"Thank you." Bartleby smiled as he and the others headed for the platform written upon the ticket, _Platform 11_.

Walking through the place, the Kenshin gumi were awed by it, the materials, the entire place seemed like it was made out of the most precious things on Earth. The floors, the figures, the seats, even golden trim around the doors. All of it was such a pleasure to the eyes, and not just to the Kenshin Gumi but to the Peace Guns. For some of them it seemed like a treasure trove of lost technology, while the others it felt almost like home.

"Looks like we're in luck," Bartleby had reported to the others, "Blaine the Mono only seats twelve people, and hopefully if no one else gets on we can get there in privacy."

"Let's keep our fingers crossed then and hope no one suspects anything." Loki assessed

They had crossed through the passage way to the platform where they saw their train waiting for them. After going through the turnstiles where they had deposited their tickets, the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns had seen what the infamous Blaine the Mono was like. The entire thing was enormously long, as long as a locomotive and a few cars behind it. Or the lengths of a few houses that were put side by side. Yet their eyes could see that the train had no cars, it was just one long silvery mass like a bullet, completely smooth. Some members tried to look around it, they saw no windows, no doors, not a single crack and seam. They couldn't even see wheels on the track. Even the track was strange to their eyes, all they could see was just a long smooth road that looked like a long stretch of plastic or porcelain.

"There's no way this could be a train." Sano muttered to himself

That was when they were all proven wrong as a great hiss came from the train, some of them leaped a few inches back at the very sound of what was coming from the very odd object sitting in front of them. Then they saw that there really was nothing to be afraid of, instead they stood in awe of what was happening. They saw that a little section of the silvery exterior of Blaine the Mono began to sink in upon itself, it sunk in much like a door. It looked almost like wax when it sunk in and like a soap bubble that popped when the door opened. Then a voice called out to them in a very deep and elongated voice.

"Well get on aboard, pilgrim." The voice said, "This is Blaine the Mono departing for the City of Nash."

"What demon is this?" Sano asked in petrified fear

Just then the voice that called to the passengers changed in tone to a female's voice, like a sweet southern stewardess, "I beg your pardon sir, but I am no demon. I am the onboard computer system for the train that has been designated Blaine the Mono, now please step aboard for we are departing within a few minutes."

"You heard Blaine." Bartleby called to everyone, "Let's get on board."

Bartleby and Loki lowered their heads as they stepped into the odd bullet shaped train. Following behind were the Peace Guns and then there were the curious members of the Kenshin Gumi, though Kenshin and Kaoru were pulling in the already spooked Sanosuke. They were pulling on him like a parent trying to get their child to walk through the door on their first day of school.

The inside of Blaine the Mono was incredible. There were seats, yet they weren't the economy class seats that only had plastic backings with a little cushioning. The seats there were full kind of seats with pillows in every facet stuffed full of fluffy material. They were so comfortable that when Kenshin sat down it, it was unlike anything that he had ever experienced in his life. They were of such soft comfort that it must have cost more than half of the emperors' estate to make something like it, at least in Kenshin's mind. They were seats the he could have comfortably slept in.

"If people sit in seats like this," he wondered, "Then I wonder how comfortable their beds are."

There were those enormously comfortable seats as well as love seats and couches that really attracted people like Sanosuke. At first he was so reluctant of the train then he was forced to sit down upon the couch and that was all he could think about.

Aside from the really comfortable places to sit, there was also a small bar at the front end of the car, or rather to the right of where the door to the platform was. Then upon the wall where the bar was there was a painting, a very odd painting of a lone gunman standing in front of a skeleton where a crow sat perched upon it and in the distance among the clouds was a tower that stretched in its turrets all the way up to the sky.

The only members that were left were Wolfwood and Millie. Wolfwood was helping Millie waddle along with Jake Chambers the Key Master still underneath Millie's long coat. The heat that Jake was feeling had become so much for him that he wondered how long he would have to wait underneath that. The only time he could remember being that hot was wandering around in the Gunsmoke Desert worrying that he would be eating by the sandworms. The sun burning down upon him and the sand underneath him certainly didn't help him at all. Yet, body heat is such a different kind of hot compared to the desert, it was a wet kind of warm as opposed to dry warmth which is what Jake felt. Feeling the sweat rolling off of his own chin and soak into his clothes, and he knew that Millie was feeling it.

Outside, Wolfwood had already stepped into the train while Millie was still waddling her way over the little gap between the platform and the interior of the train itself. As Millie lifted her foot over the gap she still held her hand upon her protruding belly where Jake lay in hiding. So far so good, as she brought the last foot over the threshold, while inside everyone was just as nervous as could be that this plan would go off without a single hitch. Even the most calm and cool of the group could feel a little sweat upon their brow that something could go wrong and it did.

As Millie brought her other foot over the threshold it caught upon the ledge of the door and she tumbled face first onto the floor of the interior of the train, allowing Jake to fall out from underneath her long coat. Jake rolled out all sweaty and breathing hard for fresh cool air, but soon it turned to quick breaths of panic as the alarms blared through the station.

"Alert!" A robotic sounding voice said over the intercom, "Alert! All Obsessed Operatives report to platform eleven, Jake Chambers the Key Master has been sighted. Orders are to capture on sight and any accomplices with him. Repeat! All operatives report to platform eleven and capture Jake the Key Master and any accomplices with him."

"Oh, shit." Loki uttered to himself and stood up to yell at the train, "Blaine the Mono! This is Loki the Warrior, Guard to the one true King of Mydar, and I order you to close the door and depart! NOW!"

Still the alarms began to blare throughout the entire station as the passengers of Blaine the Mono heard the loud footsteps of the Obsessed Guards coming down the hallways of the train station. Their footsteps were like the thunderclaps of an oncoming storm bringing with it all the terrors and horrors of its destruction in its path. Some of the passengers knew that this could be the end of it all, but there were some who stood up to rise to the challenge.

Vash and Knives stood up from their seats as Jake and Millie got up out of the door way.

"Vash, Loki" Knives ordered, "try to convince the machine to get us out of here."  
"What'd your going to do?" Vash asked

"I'm going to stop them in their tracks." Knives answered

"Not without me, pal." Sano stood up, "I prefer to go out fighting."

Knives smiled, "Cornered mouse bites the cat."

As Vash and Loki headed to the front of the cabin, Knives and Sanosuke came to the door of the train waiting for the black Obsessed Guards to come onto the platform, ready to strike at them with their own weapons. Only Sano and Knives had a few tricks up their sleeves about how to deal with this.

The black Obsessed Guards poured out onto the platform like cockroaches fleeing away from being discovered. They came all of them positioning themselves about Blaine the Mono bringing about their weapons and aiming for the door while one robotic voice called to them.

"Come out of the train with your hands up."

"I don't think so." Knives said as his mind focused upon all of them. He already knew about their construction, he could hear it in their thoughts, like overhearing a conversation at the next table in a restaurant. His mind focused with his superhuman abilities and they froze.

"I can't move!" One of them cried out

"Neither can I!" Another one reported the same thing

"I believe now is your chance to shine, Sanosuke Sagara of the Sekihoutai." Knives smiled at Sano who grinned with such delight as he drew back his fist ready to lay waste to the enemies before him.

"FUTAINOKIWAMI!" Sano shouted out as his fist roared through the air out at his target and the attack came upon the Obsessed Guards full force. All of them began to crumble, chip, and fall to pieces right in front of their eyes. Yet it was nothing special to Sanosuke, he could bring down walls with such an attack, but to the eyes of Knives, he had never seen ordinary humans display such talent.

Inside Blaine the Mono, Loki and Vash were at the edge of the car trying to speak with the onboard computer. Loki was speaking to it, while Vash was trying to reach it with his mind. He had been known to do that with certain machines, to be able to take control of them if he wanted to.

"Blaine!" Loki called, "Answer me!"

"Calm down, Loki. No need to shout." The sweet southern stewardess voice of Blaine came on. "Unfortunately I will not be able to leave the platform for one minute and two seconds and counting."

"If you don't leave now, all hopes for the freedom of Mydar are lost."

"One minute and counting." Blaine's voice answered back to Loki.

"It's no use reasoning with it." Loki gave up

"And I can't seem to reach it." Vash reported

"Can it at least close the door?!" Loki shouted

Upon Loki's sarcastic shouting, the train had obeyed the order, in the same way that it opened, the door had closed. The Interior around the door had turned into that waxy state, flowed over the door like water, and solidified as if the door wasn't there.

"We should be safe now." Loki assessed

"No need to worry about the guards." Sano smirked as he cracked his knuckles, but his cocky smirk turned into deep rooted fear as he realized that he was still in the hold of the devilish train. The rush of battle had placed all the fear upon the back burner of his mind, but it just came flowing back like a sickness relapse. Sano went back to his big comfortable seat (as did Knives, Vash, and Loki), but he wished that he had some fish bones to chew on in order to deal with the fact that he was on the train.

"Thirty Seconds to departure and counting." Blaine continued to use that Southern Stewartess voice.

Thinking about the departure and those following them, Wolfwood had thought of a very interesting and prominent question. He didn't say it aloud, he was thinking about it in his gunman quick-thinking mind. If the Obsessed already know that Jake is on the train and that he was heading for this place called the City of Nash, wouldn't they try to stop them from leaving? It seemed very reasonable because they did have technology that seemed to have limitless capabilities, so why not stop them from leaving Hilldale?

"Because they can't." Bartleby said aloud at Wolfwood

"What?" Wolfwood asked very surprised as if something had hit him in the back of the head

"You were wondering if the Obsessed are going to stop us from leaving Hilldale."

"Can they do that?" Kenshin asked

"They could have a few minutes ago," Bartleby explained, "But since Blaine's counting down there's no way to stop it, everything's in his control."

"And how did you know what I was thinking?" Wolfwood asked in a demanding sort of way.

"That's my gift." Bartleby said as he leaned back in his comfortable chair, "I can see anything in the present as well as a person's past and inner most secrets. Thus my title, _Bartleby the Spy._"

"Now departing from Hilldale Train Station," Blaine had stated to the passengers, "Thank you for choosing Blaine the Mono"

Under the comfort of their chairs and beneath their feet the passengers of Blaine the Mono felt a small buzz or a vibration. It was the kind from feeling the vibrations of a car engine or like feeling the vibrations of music from the other side of a wall. Within moments the pitch of the vibrations became higher like the sound of a high pitched tuning fork. Only the passengers could feel it through their whole bodies as well as hear it, but then it stopped. It felt like they weren't moving at all.

The inquisitive members of the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns got up from their comfortable chairs feeling every step that they took. Each step felt as stable as solid ground itself.

"Are we moving at all?" Yahiko asked impatiently, after all he was right to ask that question because with no windows inside the train they couldn't see what was going on outside.

"One moment please." Blaine's southern stewardess voice had said

Instantly the walls within the train seemed to waver and ripple like the surface of a pond when a small stone is thrown into it. The once solid material of the inner hull seemed to vanish as if it were made of smoke and mirrors. Replacing it was sunlight, the passengers of Blaine the Mono were seeing everything around them. The only thing that remained from this transformation was the floor and the furniture, everything else seemed as if it wasn't there. Only showing everything beyond those interior walls and they saw lush green fields of grass that were blowing in the wind making them seem like a sea of green. Above they saw a blue sky with the white clouds passing by, mountains in the distance with snow capping off their peaks, and forests of old trees spreading out their branches into one another. Yet, closer to them, everything seemed like such a blur as if they were the ones who were moving the fastest, but again it felt contradicting. Even with that speed, they felt no wind whatsoever.

"I can't stand it!" Sano uttered, "I gotta get off this train."

"Calm down, Sano." Kaoru tried to advise even in her own state of pure awe and amazement of the things around her that seemed like magic, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this."

"Are you stupid missy?" Sano asked his eyes wide with fear, "This train must be controlled by some manner of demon. How else do you explain its power of turning solid walls into nothing?"

"I have to side with Kaoru." Vash interjected, "There are some things here that we don't understand."

"I don't care what any of you say, there must be a demon aboard this thing, and I'm getting the hell off!" Sano was about to rise out of his seat but then another voice of reason came in.

"If I might be of some help." Blaine interjected into the discussion as well

"I don't need help from you demon!" Sano pointed in the direction the voice was coming from.

"Please, relax." Blaine said as something happened to Sanosuke.

From within his seat, Sano felt something very odd indeed. His body felt something foreign coming into it almost like a poison seeping into his system. Yet, it wasn't poison. He felt a very fine sensation, he felt relaxed, very much at ease. His face that was once tight with the fears and anxieties of his superstition melted away to a face of calm and complacency. He leaned back in his chair with a great smile on his face. All the while, the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi were watching.

Kaoru came over and lifted Sano's hand by his middle finger, he seemed so loose as if he were asleep, but he was very much awake from the look in his face.

"I don't know what's happening." Sano said very slowly as if he were just living his carefree life again, "But I don't care, I just feel…good."

"What in the hell's happening to him?" Wolfwood demanded from the machine

"Please, stay calm." Blaine explained, "It was a simple relaxing agent. It is common for passengers to be somewhat anxious about being onboard so a relaxing system was installed to help make the trip more enjoyable."

Kenshin smiled, "At least he isn't punching at the walls. That he isn't."

"True." Meryl agreed, "But there are some things that need to be answered."

"Like how long until we get there?" Yahiko asked

"Calculating." Blaine answered and within just one second, "It will be approximately one hour and fifty-five minutes until our arrival at the station in the City of Nash."

Even with this information, Wolfwood still wanted to know something.

"Bartleby." He asked, "You said you can see anywhere in the present, right?"

"Yeah." Bartleby answered

"Can you see what's at the Dark Tower?"

Bartleby shook his head, "I've tried that several times but whatever the Obsessed are doing there, they're blocking my vision. I have no idea what's going on at the Dark Tower, but we'll be there in about two hours so we'll know by then, but that's not the thing that worries me."

"What then?"

"What will be at the station in Nash when we arrive?"

To be continued…


	16. The Songstress

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower****:**

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 16: The Eastern Group**

**The Songstress **

- - -

Nightfall was coming upon the Fellowship of the Gundam. The coming darkness reminded them too much of the previous two days that they had spent down in the Mines of Midas. Thinking about being in that place only brought back the very sharp and painful memory of loosing their light of hope, Gandalf the Gray. Even with Link the Elvish Warrior leading the way to the Dark Tower that lie to the West of the Misty Mountains the Fellowship felt lost, like a family that had lost their father. Of course, everyone dealt with the loss in their own way, but Johan simply dealt with it in quiet despair.

"We can't stay here for long." Link had told them as soon as they exited the Mines of Midas, "Otherwise the Obsessed will discover us, we must keep moving."

A normal person would ask that they stop and allow them to deal with the loss of Gandalf in their own way, but the members of the Fellowship were more warrior-like and so they agreed with Link in that they should head onward. After all they had dealt with losses like this in the past. Loss of family, ones closest to them, and even some close calls that had brought them to the edge of madness. Yet, even with those things they had known the importance to continue fighting on, even in the bleakest of situations.

The sun had already gone down and night was just starting. The walk to the East with Link as their guide was a very relaxed one. Walking in that direction felt much easier than when the Fellowship made their way to the Gates of Midas. It felt like they were walking downhill. Then again, it was like Johan's father, Han Rodriguez once told him as a child, _Meho__, sometimes it's easier to go down the ladder than to go up it, but that doesn't mean it's always the right way._

Link had told the Fellowship that there was a town in the foothills of the Misty Mountains. A town called "Bre", which was a small town that was established when the forests were being cleared. So in essence it was a town filled with lumberjacks, trappers, as well as farmers. The Fellowship knew that it would be a good place to stop because of how small the town is, the Obsessed probably have no dominion over it or to be more accurate that they don't care to have control over it.

The one thing that took their minds off of what had happened was the view that they got. It was just beautiful from their vantage point, especially at such a time as sunset. From the slopes of the Misty Mountains they could view Mydar as far as the eye could see. They saw forests that spanned for hundreds of miles, rivers that twisted and turned like snakes in the grass, and more mountains to the North. _The __Threnody__Mountains__ they are called,_ Link had told them as they were coming upon the town of Bre. Yet, there was one feature that stood out among everything. From the vantage point that they were at, with the tree tops stretching above them, they could see the very thing that they were questing for…the Dark Tower. It sat at the very center of Mydar upon its own island in the middle of a great lake. The tower was a black streak that stretched up to the sky which was black and cloudy in contrast to the bright sunshine beyond the edges of its personal dark storm. They stood in awe seeing its spires and turrets spiking out from its side like a tree that had a very traumatic growth life. Occasionally there was a flash of lightning that came down upon the tower illuminating its sides just for an instant, but it was still black with that flash of light coming down upon it. They were told that they were still over a hundred miles away from it, and yet the thing to so large and tall that they could see it as clearly as the trees next to them.

The Fellowship felt a mixture of thunderstruck awe as well as great fear, like neighborhood kids looking at an old house that everyone in the neighborhood spins stories about it being haunted. The kind of place that tough kids dare each other to go in and steal something as an initiation into a gang.

"The truth is there." Johan thought as a few more bolts of lightning came down upon the tower like paths of water.

"We're here!" Link called out and the Fellowship descended down the slopes and into the town of Bre.

- - -

The town of Bre really wasn't much, it was just a simple little town with its buildings made of wood and surrounded by a sea of trees. Every building in Bre was simple, one floor, two at the maximum, a total of about ten in all. Each of them constructed by logs like typical log cabins, stone chimneys that spouted out grayish smoke and the smell of barbeque was very prominent in the air as the Fellowship walked into town. The townspeople were busy at their own tasks, stacking firewood, chopping firewood, cooking, eating, or drinking.

The ones that were outside down those outdoor activities noticed the Fellowship as they came into town. The thing that everyone in Bre had the greatest attention to was the one leading the Fellowship, the elf, Link. They all stopped and looked at him as if he was the most beautiful thing that they had set their eyes upon, including the women. There was even some whispered discussions amongst those outside wondering what an elf was doing on the western side of the Misty Mountains.

"Here's what we'll do." Link said to the others, "the Preventer Teens, all of you try to find us some lodging, while the rest of us will try to get some supplies together."

"Sure." Hikaru answered

"We'll meet you at the Inn," Link said the Preventer Teens, "it shouldn't be too hard to find."

The Preventer Teens consisting of Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, William Maxwell, Paul Marquise, Kaworu Nagisa Winner, Julia and Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez, headed down the dirt road that went straight through the town to where they found the inn. Link was right that it wasn't too hard to find because it was the tallest building in Bre…two floors high. Outside there was the sign for the place, "The Slaughtered Lamb". The picture on the piece of wood that swayed in the breeze from its iron hooks disturbed the Preventer Teens. Upon it they saw the head of a lamb that was freshly cut off and its yellowish eye still open showing off the odd shaped pupil that lambs have. There was still blood coming from its neck as it pooled in the plate that it was depicted upon, with a fork driven right into its neck as if holding it down to the plate.

"If that's the welcome sign," Paul Marquise said in high highly educated voice, "I'd hate to see what the closed sign looks like."

Leto shrugged, "Let's go in anyway."

And so, Leto was the first to walk in.

The Preventer Teens followed and they saw the kind of place that the Slaughtered Lamb was. They came into a place that was very open with a few wooden pillars, wooden floors, tables, and chairs. They already felt the blazing heat from the fire that was roaring on the far wall. In front of them was a small stairwell that went up to the second floor. Next to it was the bar where upon it was a large leather-bound book filled with named and dates. From behind the bar came an elderly man with a bushy mustache that was as gray as the balding hair upon his head.

"What can I do for you kids today?" He asked, "Just passing through?"

"Yes." Hikaru answered as she came, "We'd like to book a room. There are more of us, how much room do you have?"

"I have about eight rooms each with four single beds, three rooms with one single in each, and two rooms with king beds. How many of you are there?"

Hikaru had to think about this question, there was the Preventer Teens, that made six, then there was their families, the Preventers, that made eleven, and the Shuffle Alliance which made seven, and then there was Link. In total that would have made their party of twenty-four.

"Twenty four of us." Hikaru answered

"Quite a lot of you." The Innkeeper raised his equally bushy eyebrows, "Where you headin'?"

Hikaru knew better than to answer truthfully about a mission like this, especially with so much riding upon it. It was another small skill that she learned from her father; stealth and guile, and so she answered in a vague way.

"We're not sure, just yet." She answered

"Well, the room rates are flat all across. How long will you be staying?"

"Probably not too long."

"Very well then." The Innkeeper said, "Just sign your name here." He pointed to a blank space upon the ledger. Hikaru took the feathered quill and signed her name in the blank space.

"The others should be arriving shortly." She said as she and the others headed into the bar/restaurant area, where they sat at the only empty table they could find. Everywhere else was packed with men, all of them drinking beer and God knows what else. Laughing and cavorting as if they didn't have a care in the world that their lands were occupied by a great scourge.

The Preventer Teens sat down and not a word was spoken among them. At least not for a few minutes, every one of them just like the other members of the Fellowship had quite a lot of time to think about their time down in the Mines of Midas. Some of them could still see the dirt, ash, and soot on their hands like old chimney sweeps that would cover themselves in black ash. All they could think about was their time back there in the mines. Even the residual effects of running from that beast…that demon had stuck with them like a really bad nightmare that won't let go though the whole day. It's a kind of experience that makes one afraid to sleep again.

"What can we do now?" William asked very morosely of the Preventer Teens

"What other options do we have?" Paul pointed out, "the only option for us is to continue to the Dark Tower."

Julia shook her head, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I just got the creepiest feeling from looking at that tower from the slopes."

"What'd you mean, sis?" Leto asked as he reached across the table and took his sisters hand for physical and emotional support.

"It's like that place wants us to come to it, like how a Venus fly trap wants a fly to land in its petals so that it could be eaten. And I think that tower has some kind of hold on our dad."

"I know what you mean." Hikaru agreed, "You're dad has been starting to act strangely ever since we started out on this quest."

"Whatever it is," Kaworu spoke up, "It's there and we have to face it, whether we like it or not."

Leto nodded, "Agreed. We must face our fear and allow it to pass through us."

"I'm just worried about dad." Julia said as she tightened her grip on Leto's hand for his emotional support, "I'm worried that he may die on this quest."

Leto gripped back, "Our dad's stronger than that, sis. We have to have faith in him."

As the hubbub of the Slaughter Lamb continued, the door burst open and in came a man exhausted of breath as he tried to tell the innkeeper something. All conversation and activity ceased as all eyes and ears were upon the man who came in.

The Preventer Teens listened.

"He's coming." The man gasped for air, "He's coming."

"Everyone!" The Innkeeper announced, "Clear our best table for our Lord Stoat."

The way he said guest of honor, he didn't seem to say it with excited anticipation like the coming of a celebrity that was a town's favorite visitor. It was more like agitated fear, the kind of voice someone uses when they're boarding up their house in anticipation of a tornado. Or that it was something of…a scourge that was coming to visit the town of Bre, the Preventer Teens watched as the people within the Slaughtered Lamb cleared away the best table which was near the fire, not too close, but not too far away. Then everyone else cleared away from the table as if they were the Red Sea being parted as the guest of honor came in. The Preventer Teens saw the look of quiet panicked fear that the patrons of the Slaughtered Lamb had as the guest of honor came in.

The guest of honor was a man who was dressed in a long black cape that reached down to his ankles. The material of the cape seemed reflective like satin that shined off the highlights of the fire. Within that cape was a lining of a very deep red, somewhere between crimson and ox blood. The Innkeeper of the Slaughtered Lamb came over and took off the man's cloak as if he was his personal servant. Underneath that cloak the man was dressed in a deep purplish suit that seemed very reminiscent of the kind of clothes that the composer Mozart would wear, but at another angle the clothes the man known as Lord Stoat seemed like one of the Sank Kingdoms Formal Uniforms. Seeing that, the Preventer Teens felt disgusted by that. Then at his side was a great sword, it looked large enough for Argo Gulski to wield, while at his other side was a long coiled whip. For his features, he had long bleach blonde hair as if it were a lion's mien combed and pulled down the back of his head and passed his shoulders. His pointed nose was almost like an evil madman out of some old cliché novel, yet his eyes were narrow as he surveyed the scene.

Yet, the thing that repulsed the Preventer Teens was what was crawling on the floor at his side. On her hands and knees and as naked as the day she was born was a young woman who had long auburn hair with its tips touching the floor. Her body was covered in scratches and cuts that were bleeding while other wounds had already somewhat healed with dried up blood around them. Even more so were bruises all over her body that made her skin seem like the coloring of a blueberry pancake, yet they couldn't see her face because of how she held her head and how long her hair was. From beneath her long hair came a chain that reached up to Lord Sloat's fist, but he acted as if owned the whole town as he strutted into the Slaughtered Lamb. The woman on the floor was about to raise her head and show her face in the light of the fire.

"Keep your head down, slave." He snarled at the woman on her hands and knees as he gave a sharp kick to her side. And as the woman on the floor took the kick, the Preventer Teens heard a muffled cry as if something was in her mouth and she couldn't let out a full scream of pain. Sloat gave off a minimally orgasmic moan as he heard the cry of pain.

"You know that noise you make gets me going." The prince cooed to his slave, he took the chain and gave it a yank as he and his slave made their way over to the table. As he sat down, Stoat's back was towards the patrons of the Slaughtered Lamb while his vision was set forward right towards where the Preventer Teens sat.

"Innkeeper!" He shouted

"Yes, sire!" The innkeeper came forward groveling at the princes feet must in the same way as the slave who kept her head down.

"Do you have any ropes within this place?" Stoat asked, his tone very dark and seductive

"Yes, sire." The innkeeper said

"Bring them to me." The Prince ordered

And the Innkeeper dashed away.

The Preventer Teens waited with nervous agitation, and as quickly as the innkeeper left he came back with ropes in a twined circle in his hand. He handed them to Lord Stoat as he took the chain that led to the naked woman.

"On your feet slave!" Stoat commanded and the woman complied, her legs shaking from her thighs down to her calves. As she did Stoat looked up to the ceiling at the thick wooden beams that ran from one side of the room to the other. He unraveled the rope and threw one end over the beam just above the naked woman's head. He strung the rope around her neck and then threw the ropes over the beam again. He then tied up her wrists in such a way that it seemed that if she tried to lower them she'd choke herself.

As Lord Stoat looked at his slaves body he let out another one of those little moans as he squeeze the most precious parts of her body. First her very firm breast, then the cheeks of her buttocks, but when he was there feeling the shapeliness of her buttock he raised his palm and spanked her. Each sound echoing throughout the room and everyone in the Slaughtered Lamb watching, but it was the members of the Preventer Teens that were the most disgusted by what they were witnessing. How could a man treat a woman like this and in such a public way?

Even Leto felt repulsed by what he was seeing but it wasn't the final straw that would snap him. The anger that had built up inside him made him want to get out of his chair and do something about that man named Stoat.

The rage inside him was like the fire in the fireplace that was burning hotter and hotter with each log that was being thrown into it like with each passing moment that Stoat sexually abused and tortured that young woman.

Stoat stepped back and reached to his side and pulled out that long coiled whip. He allowed it to unravel to the floor; with it uncoiled he reached up and brought the whip down against his slaves back. Each crack made the naked woman cry harder but it was still muffled, showing that whatever it was that was in he mouth, it wouldn't come out easily.

Every muffled cry made Leto hate Stoat even more. It wasn't until the fifth crack of the whip that it happened. It was the final straw that had broken Leto's self-control. The whip came down against the woman's back making her scream out another muffled cry and for Leto who stood the closest could hear the woman crying from behind whatever was gagging her. He could even see blood trickling down her back as if it were water in a shower.

The proverbial straw in Leto's consciousness had snapped.

He couldn't figure out at the time what had come over him, but at the same time he knew that something had to be done. He couldn't stand seeing that woman tortured, nor could he stand Stoat who seemed to get an orgasmic jolt each time he cracked the whip. He moved across the room with a speed that would have only rivaled his sisters' track records. He dashed in what seemed to everyone in the room as a blur. In that haze of anger and hatred he went for his beam saber, he activated it and its bright green glow contrasted against the yellowish-orange glow of the fire.

Letoi's saber came to the hand of Stoat that held the whip. It's blade cutting through the wrist, through bone, muscle, veins, nerves, cartilage, and skin. It came out of the other side, Stoat's hand fell to the floor spilling out the blood that was still in the vessels of the hand. The man had a look of such surprised shock as he looked to the one who had deprived him of his best hand.

"Enough!" Leto snarled and then said more calmly with that fire in his eyes, "that's enough."

"How dare you strike at me, you peasant!" Stoat said cradling his handless limb, "I am Lord Stoat of the Obsessed! Striking at me means death to you!"

"Sure." Leto uttered as if saying 'whatever' to that threat, he left Stoat and went to the bound and naked woman near the fireplace. He took his saber and cut the ropes. As he did the woman had fallen onto her knees and hands. Leto went down to her brushing her auburn hair out of the way so that he could see her face. Her face looked red showing how much she had been crying. In her mouth was a red ball that was attached to leather straps. Leto reached around and felt a buckle, there he loosened it and took the ball out of the woman's mouth.

"It's alright." Leto whispered, "No one will hurt you again."

The naked woman wrapped her arms around Leto as she cried, "Thank you! Oh, thank you my prince!"

Leto chuckled, "I'm no prince, but I certainly am a knight." He took his elvish cloak off of his back and wrapped it around the naked woman. He brought her over to the table where the other Preventer Teens sat.

"What's your name?" Leto whispered

"I am Callina the Songstress." The woman whispered back

Leto set Callina down in a seat next to his sister, Julia, he then looked at her.

"Watch her for a moment, sis." He asked

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take care of Lord Stoat." He said with seriousness in his eyes unlike anything the Preventer Teens had seen in him.

Leto walked over to Stoat who was still nursing his wound.

"You were saying?" Leto asked as he held his beam saber that he had deactivated. He placed it back upon his belt as Stoat began to muster his words against him.

"You little nave!" He insulted, "I'll have your head for this, I'll…"

Leto had drawn his sidearm and fired one shot to the floor near Stoat's feet. There was a deafening silence in the room. As Leto did what he did…he felt possessed, a kind of righteous anger and fury to seek out justice against the unjust.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break you concentration?" Leto asked in dark sarcasm

Stoat looked at Leto with great fear as the young boy holstered his sidearm.

"Allow me to retort to your boast." Leto paused, and then started up again, "Describe my appearance."

"What?" Stoat asked

"What country are you from, Stoat?" Leto asked his voice rose higher

"What?" Stoat asked out of fear of what may happen next

"What isn't a country I ever heard of!" Leto shouted, "Do they speak English in what?"

"What?"

"English, asshole!" Leto shouted, "Do you speak it?"

"What?"

"Say what again!" Leto shouted louder as he drew his beam saber and brought the tip of its blade close to Stoat's face, "Say what again! I dare you! I double dare you, asshole! Say what one more time! Describe my appearance!"

Stoat began to breath in short bursts as he tried to make an answer, "You're young." He answered continuing to make short gasped breaths.

"Go on!"

"You have black hair."

"Do I look like a bitch?"

"What?"

Leto drew his side arm with his free hand and fired one shot into Stoat's left leg, "Do I look like a bitch?" Leto asked even louder

"No!" Stoat screamed as he tried to recover from the shock of his wound.

"Then why did you threaten me like your bitch?"

"I…" Stoat was about to retort but Leto interrupted

"Yes, you did! Yes, you did, Stoat!" Leto corrected. "You tried to threaten my life, and that's something that I don't like, especially when you treated this young woman like a bitch. I should just kill you right now!" He took aim right at Stoat's head, "But you know, you really caught me on a bad day. Had this been more of a conventional meeting in battle your ass would be dead before you hit the ground. So, I'm sparing you today and you should be grateful for that much. Now get your ass outta here before I change my mind."

Leto turned his back as he holstered both his saber and sidearm, but Stoat had other plans. With his only good hand he drew his sword and came up behind Leto. That would be his gravest mistake. Leto heard the noise of steel rubbing against steel, and his ears picked up the sound of Stoat's footsteps coming towards him. With the same speed that he used on Stoat when he sliced off Stoat's hand, Leto activated his beam saber and sliced through Stoat. His blade slicing through Stoat's metallic blade and then through Stoat's neck cleanly cutting off his head that rolled across the floor. As he deactivated his beam saber Leto announced to the patrons of the Slaughtered Lamb.

"A battle has been won against the Obsessed." He said, "He will not darken anyone's home ever again."

The Patron's of the Slaughtered Lamb applauded as the body of Lord Stoat was taken away and free food was brought to the table of the Preventer Teens.

- - -

It had been about a little more than fifteen minutes since the very gallant Leto Rodriguez had taken down the sadistic Lord Stoat. Their reward for ridding the town of such a menace was the free food and drinks all around; of course the Teens had to drink water since none of them could drink the ale that the Inn had. Still, there was the issue of Callina, when the thoughts came around to that, the rest of the Fellowship of the Gundam came into the Slaughtered Lamb. They had brought several tables together and the Preventer Teens had explained what it was that had happened in the last half-hour. Leto did most of the explaining about how Stoat had tortured the young woman named Callina, who was sitting between him and his sister Julia curled up in the cloak that Leto had given to her.

"And that's how it happened." Leto finished

"That's quite something for a boy like yourself to do something like that." Chibodee complemented, "Very reminiscent of the days when I was that age in New York City."

"Still, it was rather reckless to turn your back on him." Johan said to his son, "Especially since you had sliced off his hand, but you were willing to spare him, and that's something I can be proud of you, meho."

"Thanks dad." Leto smiled, "But now we have to think about our friend here."

"What did the Madame say her name was?" George asked

"Callina the Songstress," The young woman had said, "I am one of the guards to the one true King of Mydar."

"Just like Gandalf." Domon had said to the rest of the Fellowship

Callina perked right up when she heard that, letting her cloak drop down a little bit showing off the cuts and bruises all over her body, "You saw Gandalf?" She asked, "How is he? Is he with you?"

The Fellowship was silent when she had asked these questions about Gandalf the Gray. It just brought them back to that painful day back in the Mines of Midas when he had fallen down into the chasm with the Black Beast of Ahhh.

"He's dead isn't he?" She asked sullenly, but the Fellowship didn't have to answer. Callina could tell from the looks on their faces that the answer to her question was yes. Then again, there was comfort in that, she knew that in brining these good men and women through the Misty Mountains, that it was all for a good and noble cause. She knew also that these special men and women would be the ones that her master had spoken of, that they would be the ones to bring freedom back to Mydar.

"We can't stay in this town for long." Callina said to the Fellowship, "No doubt, when Lord Stoat doesn't go back to the Dark Tower, more Obsessed will come." She looked as though she were getting ready to get up, but Rain stopped her.

"You're not going anywhere in the condition your in, dear." She said, "You need to have a doctor examine you."

"Very well." Callina said like a child settling for only one scoop of ice cream instead of two.

"Wait, Rain." Link said, "What about the gift that the Princess Zelda gave to you?"

"That's right." Rain agreed as she went to her side and pulled out that bottle of red liquid, "The Faeries Water."

"Just take one sip." Link had advised to Callina.

Callina reached out to take the bottle, but before she could take it, Rain had taken out the cork for her like a devoted wife opening ketchup bottles for her one handed husband. With the Faeries Water uncorked, Callina took it and carefully took one sip from it, and then something happened in the candlelight and fire's glow of the Slaughtered Lamb. They watched as the wounds that were exposed of Callina began to heal upon their own as if the cuts and bruises were being unmade. Wounds closing in, bruises giving away to her porcelain like skin, but the blood still dried upon her that flaked away like cracked glaze on an old doughnut. Even her face, the redness from her crying was starting to disappear.

"Wonderful gift from the Elves." Callina complemented as she handed back the bottle of Faeries Water to Rain.

"The next thing that she needs to take care is to get some clothes." Julia suggested

"Here, take these." Link said as he reached into his leather pouch and pulled out a handful of paper money, "It's the currency of Mydar, this is about one-hundred plenax, I think that should be enough for one good set of clothes."

Julia took it, "Leto and I will take her and take care of that."

"Thank you all." Callina smiled, "As soon as this has been taken care of, I feel that we should leave Bre as soon as possible."

"Where would we go from here?" Quatre asked

"From here we head to the west, to the City of Nash." Callina said

"The city near the Dark Tower." Link uttered, "That's quite a ways from here."

"We don't have a lot of choice." Callina pointed out, "We have to go."'

"In that case." Domon stated, "As soon as you get some clothes, we'll head to the City of Nash."

"We'll come straight back here as soon as we've picked clothes for Callina." Leto said as he, his sister, and Callina walked out the door of the Slaughtered Lamb.

Of course such a logging and lumberjack town as Bre wouldn't exactly have anything really super fancy for a woman like Callina. Still, with the money that they had, they needed to find something for her. After all, she couldn't go from Bre to the City of Nash without a stitch of clothes on, and no shoes for that matter. To add onto that, Leto also needed his cloak back as soon as they had gotten some clothes together for Callina.

There was only one general store that sold things like foodstuffs, supplies, as well as clothes. They never quite stocked in anything in dress fashion for the ladies, mainly because there were a good number of ladies in Bre that were lumberjacks as well. So they had to settle upon those lumberjack-like clothes for Callina, a pair of sturdy pants, a long shirt, a pair of boots, and a long cloak for the cold nights. The total of that came up to about fifty planex, Link was right, it was enough, and as soon as they had left and came back to the Slaughtered Lamb, the Fellowship of the Gundam were ready to leave.

- - -

The forest outside of Bre was already dark with the sun already set and the stars already out shining their magnificent brilliance like diamonds caught on a velvet background. Down in the forest itself it had felt as if the Fellowship had wandered into a black hole with the darkness that surrounded them, with only the stars above them. The shadows of the trees like childhood monsters that parents always say aren't there but the children know that they know that they are there. At last with the town of Bre in the distance, the Fellowship decided to make camp, which in the forest that they were in, it wasn't hard to find wood, and starting it wasn't that hard either, just a touch from the beam saber and the fire started. No one in the Fellowship was hungry, the people at the Slaughtered Lamb were more than grateful to give them free food and drinks. They could have had free room and board but Callina told them that they had to leave because the Obsessed would grow suspicious if Lord Stoat didn't return. It seemed rather odd that because of this the only option was to go straight to them, directly into the lion's den, but what other options did they have. Very few as they sat around the fire and thought about it. They took this quest to help Johan bring the sword to the Dark Tower and they all swore to help him in this endeavor. As the hours passed the situation seemed to grow as dark and bleak as the forest around them.

Even Johan, though he never said it aloud, because he was never one to complain or whine about anything that he had volunteered to do. He thought to himself that he wished that this had never happened to him, that all he wanted was to just be back home, back to where life made sense and was simple at that. Feeling the hilt of the sword that Johan volunteered to carry her reminded himself that in the land of Mydar would be his answers, the answers of the tears, and the answers of why all these different worlds had crossed over into the one where he and the Preventers roamed. It was then in thinking of home that Johan tried to think of pleasant things as Gandalf the Gray had suggested.

"The smell of the ocean." Johan thought, "Haruka's lavender perfume, the view from the Sank Kingdom Institute of the ocean at sunset, making love…"

As Johan tried to think of another pleasant thought he suddenly felt something all around his body. In a sense it was like a cold breeze, but at the same time it wasn't. With a cool breeze in the middle of the night it would only be felt upon the exposed parts of a person, the face and hands. What Johan felt at that moment was both around in and within him. It chilled him. Then just as instantly as it came upon it, it changed. It felt warm, like the sun had just come out to mid-day and was bringing down its radiance to those upon the earth. What was it?

"Does anyone else feel that?" Johan asked aloud

"Feel what?" Domon asked

"I don't like this." Johan said, "I don't like it at all. It feels like something's going to happen I can feel it within me."

"What do you feel?" Rain asked like a doctor asking her patient for the symptoms of their ailment.

"At first I felt cold, but now I feel warm." Johan repeated, "But it's not on my skin, it feels like its coming within me and the intensity is growing."

There was a pause amongst the Fellowship.

"I feel it too." Heero said, "I think something's coming."

"More of the Obsessed?" Callina asked

"No." Johan said, "It feels different…." He tried to grasp at the words like memories that were long since gone, "It's like that feeling when you walk into a quiet room and someone left the screen of a computer on. You don't know what it is but you can feel it."

"I'm starting to feel it too." Duo said, "I think its getting closer."

"Everyone draw your weapons." Domon commanded as the Fellowship rose to their feet and activated their beam sabers. The rainbow of beam colors illuminated the nearest trunks of the trees around their campfire. All of them on full attack mode ready to strike at whatever was out there in the darkness. Their backs towards the fire as if it was the most precious thing that they needed to protect. That same hot and cool internal sensation could be felt by every member of the Fellowship, even Callina the Songstress started to feel it.

"Where is it?" Johan asked himself as the green beam of his saber illuminated every bit of his front like a flashlight that a kids holding to their face to scare their friends at a Halloween ghost story telling.

Then something occurred to him. He didn't know what it was, but for one reason or another Johan felt the drive to look up. As if some quiet voice kept yelling at him to do so. Looking up to the starry sky to see the stars and the nebula-like clouds around them, there was something odd. There was a star there that was bright then all of them. As Johan's eyes were drawn to it, he didn't know but it was growing larger and larger until its sized had rivaled the moon itself. That was when the danger sense of his soldier-like reflexes kicked in.

"Everyone!" He shouted, "Look up!"

All the eyes of the Fellowship looked up and there they saw the light that had descended from the sky. It came down and illuminated the treetops like a miniature sun but it glowed like the moon. They watched as it came closer and closer and closer until it was on top of the fire, so close and within the Fellowships reach that they could reach out and touch it.

The rate of descent of this fallen star was so fast that it was falling, until it was near the fire, and that was when it stopped for just a moment as if it wanted to look at the Fellowship. Then it sunk into the fire as if it were another log to be burnt for a few more hours of heat and light. That was when the fire turned a bright blue much like the color of Heero's beam saber or the fire of a blow torch. Then the blue fire changed to white and its light became as bright as the sun itself.

The Fellowship covered their eyes so not to be blinded by the fires unusual glow from the fallen star. From a skewed view they could see the light dying down like the light of a flare starting to fade. They all looked back and floating above the flames of the fire was a man dressed in long white robes, in his hand was a tall white and smooth staff. They could see his face, his hair long and very straight, the same with his beard, long, white, and straight. The features of his exposed face were old and wrinkled from years of age. They could see who it was at last.

"Gandalf." Callina uttered

"Gandalf." The man in white said gently as he descended down to the ground away from the flames that had returned to their red, orange, and yellow glow. "Yes, that is my name."

"What happened to you?" Callina asked

"There will be time to explain that." Gandalf smiled, "But for now, do you have anything to eat?"

**To be continued…**


	17. Barret's Wall

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 17: The Northern Group**

**Barret's**** Wall **

It had been only a few minutes since Draco the Beast Master had already led a small piece of the army there. He had led the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelions there hoping that the keeper of the wall, a wizard name Carolinas would be there to let them through. Unfortunately they had found out that it was occupied by forced of the Obsessed, the Frenchmen who taunted them so much with their acid tongues. Though when the Frenchmen had launched a cow at them, that was the last straw, even though Draco (in his dragon form) had eaten the cow whole, he swore that they would free the tower.

The battle at Barret's wall in the northern lands of Mydar had already begun. Draco began to flap his wings above the parapets and turrets of the wall and began to breath fire down upon the Frenchman who tried to fire livestock at him.

Down below, the Senshi and Starlights had already transformed and were ready to storm the wall. They had their sights set upon the great wooden door of the wall. The first to step up to the challenge was Sailor Mars who had called forth her power to conjure and control fire. She held out her hand and the flame appeared like a faerie being commanded by its master. She wrapped her fingers around the flame and watched as the flame began to burn hotter and bright until it had become a fireball in her hand. She brought over her other hand for support of the flame and with two hands the fireball burned even brighter and grew to the size of a basketball. Mars knew that it would do and with one hand she threw the fireball as if it were a stone at the wooden door.

The fireball exploded on contact with the door and within a matter of seconds the wood collapsed from the intense flames. The doorway into the wall was only a large hole with flaming pieces of wood blocking the way. That was until Sailor Neptune stepped up. She brought her hands together interlocking the fingers and from the little crevices between each finger spouted water. It came out much in the same way that water spurts from a facet with a garden hose attached to it. Then Neptune opened her hands and out flowed gallons upon gallons of water unto the fire as if her hands were hoses from a fire truck.

The flowing water had quenced the fire at the gates and seeing their open path the Senshi and the Evangelions took it. They dodged their way into Barret's wall as Draco in his dragon form continued his barrage on the parapets.

They came to a great room beyond the threshold where the wooden door was. It was just an enormous room, all stone for the floors and walls and the ceiling was made of thick wooden beams. The stone walls were covered with tapestries depicting wars almost like historical murals. On both sides of the Great Hall, there were two doors, for of them in all. Each containing a set of stairs that went upward. Coming into the Great Hall the Senshi and Evangelions encountered a great deal of resistance. All of them facing men dressed in light armor and helmets much like the Frenchman who taunted them. Each wave that came at them was just an opportunity to test their new powers.

First up were Sailor Neptune and Mercury, Neptune had done the same trick she used upon the wooden door when it was in flames. Clasping her hands together and allowing the water to flow from them. Its force h ad knocked down the first wave of men coming for them, sending them flat upon their backs then Mercury stepped up. She brought her hand down to the water that pooled upon the stone floor.

Sailor Mercury (Ami) was always the science type, in one class she had (probably chemistry) there was a demonstration of the effects of liquid nitrogen. Ami already knew about its effects but her classmates had to see it themselves. They watched as they froze all kinds of things, erasers, rubber balls, and whatever else that they could freeze (within reason that was). It was like that, as if Ami's hand was made of liquid nitrogen when she froze the water that pooled on the floor and where the enemies were knocked over. The water froze and crystallized into ice as it reached the enemy army, but the ever cautious Ami controlled her new found powers. With control, the enemy was frozen to the flood, hands stuck to the frozen water, armor fused to it, and bound to the ice.

"Incredible." Ami thought to herself about these new powers.

With the next wave of soldiers coming at them, the Senshi and Evangelions saw how outnumbered they were. At least to most of them except for the battle ready Uranus. She stepped up to the challenge like a baseball batter stepping up to the plate at a major game. She raised her hand in the same way that she would do if it were a regular "world shaking" attack. Except she too felt different about her powers, she brought her hand down with the palm facing the oncoming enemy that came at them like a train on a collision course for the Senshi and Evangelions. The palm of her hand faced them as if she were a traffic cop stopping rush hour traffic. Then as if something had flipped the switch, a great wind came from Uranus' hand. The very force was so much that she had to replant her feet upon the stone floor for better support against the wind of her hand. On the other side, the force felt like a great storm that knocked the soldiers over.

With another set of soldiers down they knew collectively that a plan of attack was needed if they were to come out the other side in one piece. That duty fell squarely upon the shoulders of Misato Katsuragi. She assumed command of the cadre of magic users.

"Alright." She said, "Here's the plan."

"Wait." Uranus stopped, "Who put you in charge?"

Misato definitely knew that kind of tone, she had dealt with it several times from Ritsuko as well as Asuka whenever she didn't get her way. Misato looked into the eyes of Sailor Uranus and enforced her level of authority. She approached Uranus and looked at her squarely in the eye. In the animal kingdom amongst alpha males there's always a test of dominance. The first one to look away in that contest of staring each other down is considered the weaker one. That was the contest going on between Major Misato Katsuragi and Sailor Uranus.

"Look, kid." She said as she stared down at her, "Do you want to get out of this alive or not? Then, I suggest you go along with me on battle plans."

Uranus wouldn't back down, "Why should we listen to you?"

Misato raised her finger and shoved it against Uranus' yellow bow and down into her soft flesh, "I'm the only certified military trained officer here, so if you want to live I suggest you do as I say."

Uranus' eye narrowed straight at Misato. She wouldn't be seen as weaker but she was going to have to compromise. In the end she knew that Misato was right.

"What do we do then?" Uranus asked still with that dominance tone in her voice.

"We'll divide into two teams." Misato instructed as the Senshi and Evangelions listened intently to both Misato's instructions and for footsteps of oncoming soldiers, "Shinji, Asuka, Mercury, Venus, the Starlights and I will go look for the keeper of this wall. If he's alive there's a good chance he may know how to take back the wall, while the rest of your keep fighting the soldiers. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The Senshi and Evangelions said in unison

With the agreement made the strange fellowship had split themselves into two parties and each went their separate ways. At least they did that after a few minutes of trying to figure out where to go.

"Which way do we go?" Shinji asked in hurried panic

"Well, you're the great Third Child, you do something!" Asuka said in her usual high and mighty tone.

Shinji took a deep breath and held out his hand with his palm face down. IN same manuals about psychic practices, what Shinji was trying to do, would be known as dowsing. In that he would have to reach about with his mind to find something that is missing or cannot be seen. It was like that time in the cave when Rei had shown her new talent as well as when they had seen the other Senshi display their talents.

Shinji also felt like there was something extra there within him, something saying, "I'm here" and he was listening. In his minds eye everything was dark, but all that changed when he focused hard enough like arriving at an answer to a math problem. With his concentration going full force, all other sounds were blocked out until he could hear the beating of his heart.

With each beat of his heart, Shinji could "see" even clearer, he could see a cell. A dungeon cell with an old man in a green robe trapped inside it.

"Where is it?" Shinji demanded of his new gift

His vision became crystal clear with that demand his mind's eye could see right through the walls as if there was only him and the prisoner. He looked only a little to the left and there was the prisoner waiting to be released, the vision was definite to him. Shinji opened his eyes and looked to the left staircase nearest to the door.

"That way!" Shinji pointed, then dashed up the stairs.

With that direction, the rest of the Evangelions, along with Sailor Mercury, Venus, Fighter, Healer, and Maker followed him. It was rather odd to those who knew Shinji the best to be so assertive. Normally, Shinji would just go along with whatever anyone told him. He truly has changed ever since they came to the lands of Mydar. To Misato she almost felt like a parent being proud of her child for their great achievement. Asuka on the other hand felt a little floored by the changes within Shinji.

The hallway that the stairs led to was populated by doors on both sides, much like the hallways of a hotel. The only difference was that there were no numbers or symbols of any kind. The hallway was long and thin, until they saw a small crossing, seeing it coming, Shinji stopped.

"What is it, Third Child?" Asuka asked

"I sense someone's coming" Shinji reported, "But I can't tell how many."

In the back, Sailor Venus had that same small moment to herself. Just like the rest of the Senshi as well as Shinji Ikari. Except for her it wasn't anything eye opening about her powers. It was more about what she was carrying.

The Ring.

Venus looked at the ring and just like the others before her, instincts started to take over. She took the ring in her hand and she spoke up to the others.

"I'll scout ahead." She said

"How do you plan to do that?" Misato asked curiously

Sailor Venus took the ring and displayed it to the others like a magician showing a soft foam ball that he was going to do a trick with. She slipped the ring over her left gloved hand onto her ring finger, and just like a magicians trick, Sailor Venus vanished in the blink of an eye.;

"Where did she go?" Star Maker asked

"I'm right here." Venus' voice called out, "I'm going to go ahead."

Even though the others couldn't see, Venus was on her way down the hallway. Even though Venus was invisible she still felt that hot and sweaty nervous tension. The same kind that a child gets when sneaking out of bed to get some late night snacks or watch late night television that the parents don't want the kids to see. So, Venus was cautious as she turned the corner and found what she set out to find. Just a few feet around the corner were a group of soldiers talking amongst themselves. Venus kept reminding herself that she was invisible by looking down at herself and seeing only the floor. No shoes, legs, skirt, fuku, or gloves, nothing was there.

She took careful steps towards the soldiers. Despite all the reminders of her being invisible she was still careful in approaching. Until she came within listening distance of them, but it seemed pointless once she started to listen to the language they used. Venus herself had a hard time grasping some foreign languages but the one she was hearing the soldiers speak was so bizarre to her ears that she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Again, she reminded herself why she was there; she looked at them and counted them.

_One…two…three…_

"Eight." She thought to herself, as she turned around and stepped away, until she turned that same corner and she felt relieved and completely in the clear. Back in bed with the late night snacks and the parents never knew that the kids had done the deed. With a breath of relief, Venus took off the magic ring and dashed her way back to the others to report what she had found around the corner.

"How many?" Misato asked

"Eight of them." Venus reported, "They didn't suspect a thing that I was there."

"Good." Misato nodded, "Now, Maker, Fighter, and Healer. You three will be the first attack wave. Surprise will be in our favor. The second wave will be Mercury, Venus, Shinji, and Asuka. Got it?"

"Got it." They said in unison

"Let's move." Misato signaled and so Misato's team moved down the hall with the Starlights in the front, as the first attack wave. It was safe to say that no one within that group was new to battle or war. Every single person has dealt with war on one level or another.

They had turned around that same corner that Venus went around with such nervous tension, but this time all of them were going forward and never looking back. The Starlights charged full force against the soldiers, they came down the halls, the sound of their boots alerting the soldiers, and they too came at the Starlights shouting in their own language. All eight of them drawing out their swords just ready as could be but not for what was going to happen next.

"Star Serious Laser!" Star Fighter shouted

"Star Gentle Uterus!" Star Maker shouted

"Star Sensitive Inferno!" Star Healer shouted

All three attacks had knocked down all eight of the oncoming soldiers. The Starlights stood together shoulder to shoulder seeing how they had won with the rest of their comrades catching up to them.

"Well, so much for the second attack wave." Mercury assessed.

The barrage upon and within Barret's Wall had continued on and on through the hours of the day. For Draco raining fire upon the soldiers on the parapets, and the Sailor Senshi with the Evangelions fighting the enemy, the day seemed so short that all those hours seemed just like a split slice in the day. Every member discovering their new found powers; Mercury over ice, Venus over the hearts of the enemy, Sailor Moon with her ability to heal those who were injured, Mars' fire conjuring, Jupiter's control of lightning, Saturn and her destructive powers of matter and energy, Uranus over the winds, Neptune over the waters, and Pluto with time. The Evangelions also were slowly discovering their own unique gifts, despite how similar they were to the Senshi, but still had their own uniqueness. Shinji being able to do the dowsing technique, he also found out that like Neptune he had the power to control water. Asuka on the other hand found out that she could conjure and control fire, which was ironic that she could control fire but she couldn't control her temper. At least t hat's what the Senshi had discovered so far about her, she reminded them of one very vocal member, but they never said who it was aloud. Those were the gifts that the Senshi and Evangelions had discovered so far, but who knows what other gifts that they had locked away?

Misato's team had followed Shinji's directions, every-so-often they would stop so that Shinji could keep track of which direction that they were going. To Shinji each time that he closed his eyes it was like putting on X-ray glasses. The kind that supposedly say allow the wearer to see what was underneath the surface. That was simply a trick, what Shinji did was a true talent. Closing his eyes all the walls would vanish and the old man in the green robes was clearer and much closer.

Shinji opened his eyes and saw that he was standing at a door.

"This is it." He said as he reached out and turned the knob and opened the door. When the door opened, Shinji looked in and saw only darkness there. The others came up behind him.

"Asuka." Misato ordered, "A little light."

Asuka clenched her fist, and then opened it up again, and there in her hand was a little dancing flame. She came to Shinji' side and she had brought light into the darkness. Within the darkened place beyond the door they saw a set of stairs.

"I should go first." Asuka said snobbishly, "I'm the fire bearer."

"Go right ahead." Star Fighter said but then whispered to Maker, "Better her than us."

"What was that?" Asuka shouted

"Nothing." Star Fighter immediately putting on her innocent looking face

"Enough." Misato stepped in, being the adult of the situation, "Go first, Asuka."

With a narrow very leery look in her eye at Star Fighter, Asuka went ahead. Then again, Asuka at first wanted to hit on Seiya when they first met back at that gave, but not after finding out that he could change genders. But Asuka was always picky about those kinds of things, but with Kaji she would have torn her clothes off and gladly bent over for him.

Asuka took her steps down into the darkness, which was only a few steps before she came to stable ground. With the flame in her hand, she intensified it and looked around. She as well as the rest of Misato's team found the place to be very dark and dank indeed. It's naturally stone mason floors, walls, and ceiling. The floor strewn with draw, iron bars covering doors to each cell, and shackles bolted to the stone walls in each cell.

"Definitely the dungeon." Star Fighter whispered

"Hey, someone's there!" A voice called out from one of the many cells down the narrow passage way. "Hey! Let us out you French speaking motherfuckas!"

"Quite a mouth that one has." Star Maker had assessed

The group moved forward with Asuka giving the light and they came to a set of cells where the first thing they saw was a man right at the bars. He looked quite raggedy in the light of Asuka's flame. He had long dirty blonde hair under and equally dirty snow cap, a long coat, and very messy looking clothes. While sitting on the far side of the cell was a bearded man with a backwards baseball hat, long hair, long coat, all tattered and dirty.

"Hey, what's up baby?" The blonde hair man said, his voice very raspy, "What's up, sluts?"

"Well, I never!" Star Healer shouted

"Hey, mind gettin' us out?" The blonde hair man asked, "I don't know how long its been since I've had a blunt and I'm ready to kill a motherfucka for one."

"He really does have quite a mouth." Sailor Venus observed

"Don't mind him." An old and very gentle voice said

Misato's team turned around and found another jailed man. He was just as dirty as the first two that they ahd discovered. Except this man was very old, he had a very long gray beard that reached down to the hem of his green robe. On top of his head was a green skull cap with designs of stars and crescent moons on them. He came up to the bars wrapping his long old fingers around the bars.

"Who are you?" Mercury asked

"I am Carolinas the Green Wizard and Keeper of Barret's Wall." He introduced, "And the one with the mouth is my nephew Jay and behind him is his friend Silent Bob."

"We've come with Draco the Beast Master." Shinji interjected

"Holy shit!" Jay shouted, "Draco's here, then that means we'll be free to score some fatties!"

"Please, sir." Mercury said, "Stand back."

Carolinas did so, and Mercury brought her hand over the key hole of the jail cell. With Asuka's light they saw ice starting to crystallize around Mercury's hand. Creeping all around the lock and coming up to the bars. At that point she stopped, stepped back, and gave the door a really good hard kick. The lock cracked and split into pieces and then shattered even more upon the stony floor and the door banged against the iron bars as it came fully open.

Carolinas stepped out with such a great smile on his face that he looked a lot like Santa Claus. Mercury then brought her attention to the cell with Jay and Silent Bob in it. She did the same thing, froze the door lock and kicked the door open.

"That was cool." Jay smiled, "Now, let's go get my stash, bitch!"

"Not yet, young Jay." Carolinas said, "First, I'd like to thank all of you for freeing us all."

"Let's get out of this dungeon already!" Jay shouted

"Please, forgive Jay." Carolinas apologized, "He just gets crotchety sometimes."

"Remind you of anyone?" Star Fighter had asked Shinji in a very rhetorical tone

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Asuka asked with her tempter making the flame burn brighter in her hand.

"Yo, calm the fuck down, bitch." Jay suggested crudely, "What you need is a fatty boom batty blunt and a little honey in your hive, you under sexed bitch."

"How dar you talk to me like that!" Asuka screamed as she tried to smack Jay but since Jay was so much taller than Asuka her attempts were really futile.

"Alright! Alright!" Jay tried to calm down the fiery tempered Asuka, then turned to his silent compatriot and whispered, "Jesus, this bitch is bitchy. Whole fuckin' worlds against us Silent Bob, swear to God."

As the sun began to set, the battle had died down and was won by Draco, the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelions. Barret's Wall had been taken back from the forces of the Obsessed. It seemed that a battle had been won in the name of a good fight…a good cause.

After the battle was over, all of them, Draco, Carolinas, Jay, Silent Bob, the Sailor Senshi, and the Evangelions met in the library. It seemed that Carolinas' Library had been untouched by the ones who had taken over the wall.

"At least they had some decency." Carolinas said as he looked over to cheek and make sure every single book was still there.

The library was located on the second level of the castle within Barret's Wall. The room where the library was situated was tall to accommodate for the exposed extra two floors that had their own elegant wooden catwalks, along with the cast iron spiral staircases at select points to access the higher levels. Far above them all was a circular stain glass window for a ceiling with all kinds of colors and patterns in its design.

All around there were hundreds and hundreds of books upon the shelves that reached up to that stain glass ceiling. While on the ground floor there was a large work table wthat had class containers and pieces that looked like they were part of a chemistry set; beakers, test tubes, graduated cylinders, and so on. Upon the work table there were papers and notebooks strewn all over it as if the Green Wizard had been working on something before the wall was taken.

"Let's see, I'm sure it's here somewhere." Carolinas said as he went about his search.

While in the rest of the library were all kinds of chairs, couches, as well as love seats where the Evangelions and Senshi sat. For a few who had allowed curiosity to come over them, such as Minako (Sailor Venus, who, like the other Senshi had transformed back to their original state) was looking around at the different books. All of them were hard back editions each of them written in languages she had never laid eyes upon.

Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) on the other hand was looking at the various items upon Carolinas' work table. She looked at the loose pieces of paper using her own intellect and knowledge that she had. Some of the pieces of paper seemed to be about some kind of machine with the illustrations she saw but the language was so strange she couldn't read it.

"Ah! Here it is." Carolinas called out, as he held a rolled up scroll in his hand.

"What were you looking for?" Misato asked as the Green Wizard came down the stairs

"The map to the Lands of Mydar." Carolinas explained as he rolled out the scroll in his hand onto the work table, over the books, papers, glass chemistry containers, and notebooks. On the map with the Senshi and Evangelions gathering around it they saw a land filled with rivers, mountains, forests, and towns with the word Mydar written at the bottom right corner. Carolinas had laid his old long finger down upon the map in the upper section with the name "Barret's Wall" near it.

"Here we are." Carolinas said, "And you need to go south of Barret's Wall to the town of Hiker's point from there you follow the road to the City of Nash."

"Why can't we fly there?" Asuka asked, "Draco got us here like that."

"The Obsessed may spot you." Carolinas explained, "There's a bus here at our garage that you can take to Nash."

"Let's go then." Draco said

"Can't we rest first?" Usagi whined

"Time's against us." Draco said with a quick tone, "We must keep moving."

"Very well then." Carolinas said, "We'll pack up the bus and send you on your way."

The Sailor Senshi, Evangelions, and with Draco at the wheel they headed southward. The small bus that they were given wasn't exactly anything like what they had seen before. It was large and yellow, the seats were covered in plastic leather, and the divers seat was bouncy each time it was sat upon, but there was room enough for everyone.

They had gone past the small town of Hiker's Point where they picked up some supplies and continued to head down to the road as the stars began to fill up the sky and to the direct south they could see they very thing that they were questing for…the Dark Tower that seemed to be blacker than the night sky itself. It sat upon a small island out in the middle of a lake that was larger than anything that they had seen in their lives. Even the tower itself seemed so much larger than any building in any major city that they had been to. It seemed like a sharp void in the beautiful array of stars above.

As the night came upon them, the Senshi and Evangelions fell asleep. The only ones that were still awake were Draco at the wheel and Shinji Ikari who kept looking out the window at the Dark Tower in the distance. So much had happened in only the course of one day, Shinji had discovered new powers within himself like all the others. Even with his new powers he could still feel something out there, something familiar like a scent that would bring back the fondest of memories.

Shinji had closed his eyes and tried to view what it was that he could vaguely sense. All went dark in his minds eye as he sped forward across the lands of Mydar as if he were traveling on a beam of light. At last something was within his vision. He could see the back of someone, he could see their cloths but not the back of their head. Shinji tried to go closer, but as he reached out to the persons shoulder, the vision stopped.

Shinji opened his eyes as if he had awakened from a dream. He looked back at the Dark Tower.

"I will find out." He thought to himself as he fell asleep with Asuka at his side, and the bus going ever onward to the City of Nash at the foot of the Dark Tower.

To be continued…


	18. Butcho's Palace

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's Unite**

**Chapter 18: The Southern Group**

**Butcho's Palace **

The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six all had followed Armand in their own cars departing away from the gun fighting mess that they had left at the parking lot of the Hotel Rachel. The man who had called himself Armand el Mariachi had a candy apple red convertible, but it wasn't shinning new as some would have hoped. It was dirty from lack of being washed, the paint starting to oxidize and fade away to the rust underneath it all. Its white convertible top was already torn, tattered, and dirty like the rest of the car. The windshield already cracked in several places but not so much that it was hard to see out of it. It was still good enough to see through.

Before leaving the parking lot, they watched Armand get into it. He placed his guitar case filled with guns in the passenger side seat as if it was the love of his life and went around into the drivers' seat and started it up. Amazingly the car started up as if it was brand new, it showed both the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew that you can never judge a car by how it looks.

Pulling out of the parking lot, Armand looked as though that the events in the parking lot had never happened. Behind him, the Lupin crew gathered up into the Mercedes, bringing along Inspector Zenigata for the ride. One of the main reasons was that Lupin felt that Zenigata might become useful later on in this adventure that they've been mixed up in.

Following the dirty candy apple red convertible, the conversation among the Lupin Crew (who now included Zenigata) and the Outlaw Six was absolute nothing. Not a single word out of any of them. Then again, how were they supposed to take what had just happened in the past...Melphina looked at the watch she bought and found out that the intensity of what happened in the parking lot was only fifteen minutes. So, everything that had happened in those intense times was only fifteen minutes, but still there was no conversation among them; only the purr of the engine and the two cars trying to follow the leader ahead.

Armand had led the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six down deep into a different part of the town. He took them into the south-western part of the town, "Little Mexico". The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six kept up with Armand's car as they looked out at the houses. Seeing children with shirts but no pants, others without clothes but have shoes. All of the children staring up with all brown eyes at them, all eyes that were cold and hungry wanting a better life or hoping for some ounce of generosity like puppies wanting a better home. It struck some kind of chord with the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six, even though some have had bad experiences with children. It was mainly Lupin, who had quite a run-in with a little girl who wanted a very valuable stamp that he had stolen.

Eventually, the cars came to a stop and Armand took out his guitar case from the passenger side and silently signaled for them to follow him on foot. It didn't take long for them to see where they had pulled up to. They saw a one two story building, much like the other buildings in "Little Mexico", made out of mud, sand, and logs for the roof. They looked down and saw Armand waving at them to come in.

The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six got out of their cars and followed him in. Pouring in one by one they soon saw the interior of the house. They saw the floor to be like the outside, made of those same earthly materials, while the roof above them was made out of the aged floorboards. Around them they saw Armand standing at an old fire burning stove and a small table with a few chairs around it. The room had only a few windows that had wooden shutters there that didn't keep out a lot of light as they were closed. The light leaked in light water leaking from a busted pipe. Aside from the wood burning stove, the table, and the chairs, there was one last piece of furniture in the room. It was a rather small cabinet, nothing fancy, just something very simple.

Armand set his guitar case next to the stove and went to the cabinet. From there he pulled out a bottle that was half full of Tequila and a few short glasses, with what his hands could carry. He sat down at the table and poured himself a glass. He looked over at the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew seeing that they were still standing.

"Please." He said, "Sit down, but I'm afraid I don't have very many chairs."

With that, the "leaders" of each group took their chairs with the man who had said that he was a weapon smith.

Gene Starwind, Jim Hawking, Lupin the Third, Inspector Zenigata, and Jigen took their seats in the somewhat flimsy wooden chairs. The swordsmen Goemon and Sazuka took their seats by leaning against the wall with their swords nearby them. Melphina, Fujiko, and Asia Clan-clan simply stood near the table that their friends had sat at.

With a little calmer atmosphere and time to absorb a little more of their new companion, they saw Armand in more detail. Despite the fact that the shutters were closed there was still enough light to see Armand. They saw that he had long black hair down to his shoulders that somewhat obscured part of his face as he hunched over his shot glass of tequila. He then straightened up to pour some tequila for his guests. He poured out four glasses and shoved them towards, Gene, Lupin, Zenigata, and Jigen. They watched Armand's hand as he offered them his drink of choice. They saw a scar upon the top of his left hand, a scar that looked as if the flesh had been torn away leaving only dead tissue. Looking back at his face, they had noticed that Armand had a wide and open brow with a broad nose. His eyes were brown and narrow set under a set of thick eyebrows. His skin very tanned like a medium wood finish. Then even noticed that his voice was kind and had the trace of a Latin/Spanish accent, rolling his R's, and giving a little extra hiss to his S's.

As Armand pushed the last of the tequila to his guests, he raised his own glass with his scarred left hand.

"To the success of the quest" He said as he took the tequila down in one shot while his guests kept looking at the strange liquor.

"Alright." Gene started the discussion, "We already know that your name is Armand. You said you're the guard to the one true king of Mydar, but what the hell does this have to do with us?"

"I'll make a long story short." Armand said, "The lord of this land is captured and needs help getting free. That's why all of you are here, all of you have been summoned as part of an army that my master needs."

"An army?" Sazuka asked, "I'm sorry, but I cannot be apart of this."

"Why is that?" Armand asked the lady samurai

"I do not get involved in anything unless it involves anything for my own personal interests."

"In other words, money." Lupin leaned back in his chair and smiled at Sazuka like he had in seducing hundreds of other women, "Am I right, honey?"

"As distasteful as the way you asked it, yes." Sazuka answered with a little grimace

"I'm sure my master would be more than willing to compensate all of you for your help." Armand stated

"How so?" Jigen asked

Armand reached into the pocket of his black jacket, "I knew that the ones for the army would need a little incentive, so I have this." He pulled out his hand and opened his palm, from it came coins. Not just any regular kind of coins, they were gold coins, all of them shimmering in the light that leaked into the room.

"Is that what I think it is?" Lupin asked

"Yes." Armand answered

He looked at the coins seeing the intricacy of the engravings upon them and how they shimmered like all kinds of riches that he had stolen in the past.

"It is beautiful." He uttered

"And there is a million times more of this in my masters' tower where he is being held." Armand explained, "Will you help?"

"Well," Gene said, "Most of my debts are paid off, but then again I'm always on the look out for extra cash. And since we can't exactly get back home, looks like this'll be our best option."

"I'm with Gene on this." Jim spoke up, "Gene and I are partners. Anything he does he doesn't do without me."

Armand looked to his left where the leaders of the Lupin crew sat.

"Well, money is always a great incentive for me." Lupin smiled, "I'm in."

"Wait a minute there, Lupin." Zenigata spoke out, "Since I'm involved in this, any criminal activity you do I'll arrest you."

"Didn't you hear that guy back there, pops?" Lupin asked, "You have no authority here, you're slightly out of your jurisdiction. Plus we may need you."

"Are you nuts, Lupin?" Jigen asked angrily, "Why should we trust him?"

"Yeah and why should I trust you?" Zenigata asked in agreement with Jigen

"Because we don't have any other choice." Lupin said, and he was right there was no other choice but to go along with Armand in whatever was ahead of them. And whoever the King of Mydar is, if he has a million times more in gold than the coins Armand presented, and then they'd be set for life. Then again in Lupin's mind as he had confessed money is always a great incentive, but then again women are another incentive he has.

"Then it's settled." Armand said as he gathered up the coins and put them back in his pocket, "But because of the little fiasco at the Hotel Rachel, the lord of this town isn't going to let us leave quietly."

"Who is this lord?" Jim asked

"He is a vicious drug lord named Butcho. Ever since the Blight of Mydar came to this land, towns everywhere have suffered, and this man is one of them. What makes this situation worse is that he's captured two people very dear to me."

"Who?" Fujiko asked

"Two students of mine" Armand said with deep regret in his tone as if he had made some great mistake in the past, "Rally Vincent and May Hopkins."

The way Armand spoke, even though the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had no idea of what he was talking about when he spoke of the Blight of Mydar, they knew that something had to be done about it. Because they knew that this man would lead them to that vault with the gold in it. That being the most materialistic reason, but underneath it they remembered the faces of the starving children. That's what made them think about the two students of Armand's that were captured. Even though they had never set eyes upon them, it was just the tone in Armand's voice that struck such a deep chord with them, something deep within each person about helping those in need. Then something else came up in their minds, and Gene was the first to say something about it.

"If Butcho won't let us leave this town" Gene said, "then I guess we're going to have to face him."

"As luck would have it." Armand brought up, "Today is Butcho's Fortieth Birthday, and he will be celebrating it at his palace which is only a few miles east of town. He's based at an old mission that he took over as his palace. We strike there and we do it today." He said that last sentence with such an ominous tone as if he were some kind of prophet predicting the future.

At a distance, Fujiko couldn't help but notice the wound in his hand. As Armand turned to gather up his guitar case, Fujiko went to him and asked, "That wound in your hand. How did you get it?"

Armand looked at his left hand as if it were a photo of a woman that he loved dearly and had lost to some great tragedy long ago. "This wound in my hand." He said, "Was from when I had escaped my masters' tower. I wanted to stay by his side and fight the Blight of Mydar, but he ordered me to leave, but those who had taken over the tower captured me. They had given me the choice to join them. I told them that I would never join them that my loyalties lied with my master. It was with that that I was punished. I used to be a great Mariachi guitar player, and with my hand as it is, I can never play the guitar again. So I took to my guns that I had made and swore to return to the tower."

"Such a sad story." Lupin sympathized

"Yeah." Gene agreed

Fujiko paused and suddenly she had an idea. Something clicked in her mind like tab A into slot B of a paper construction. The cup. The cup in the Mercedes, Fujiko dashed out of the room with Lupin and the others calling for her, but all of their voices seemed distant to her in the dreamy daze she was in. She felt like the one who had found the cure to the greatest disease that would ever scour the earth. She alone had the key to unravel Armand's suffering. She went to the place where she left the cup, took it from the passenger seat, and dashed back into the house where Lupin was calling to her.

"Fuji, what are you doing?" He asked, but Fujiko did not answer, she held the cup in front of her as if she was the torch bearer for the flame of the Olympic Games. She came to Armand with the cup in her hands.

"I think this will help you." She said, "I can't explain how, but I think it can."

"What are you babbling about?" Asia asked in her high pride Ctarl-Ctarl voice

Fujiko ignored it like the concern Lupin had for her and looked to Armand whose eyes wend wide with amazement. It was as if the old dirty cup that Fujiko had taken from that antique shop was the most precious thing that Armand had ever laid eyes upon. Fujiko took the tequila that was served and poured it into the cup. Keeping the liquid there she brought it over to Armand, she knelt down beside him, took the very hand that had the wound in it, and poured the tequila in the dirty old cup onto it. Before the very eyes of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew the wound on Armand's hand began to shrivel, shrink, and close up upon itself. As the last of the tequila poured out, Armand discovered that he could move the very two middle fingers that were immobile the day that the wound was placed in his hand.

Armand began to move his fingers to test the regained dexterity. The fingers he thought that were useless for the rest of his life were alive once again as if the punishment never happened. He clenched his fist once again and took the cup from Fujiko's hand and gazed at it.

"Where did you find this?" Armand asked never taking his gaze away from the cup

"At an antique shop in a town called Derry." Fujiko explained

"Always the last place to look." He said with frustration in his voice as well as upon his scrunched up face.

"What do you mean?" Gene asked

"Tell me." Armand implored to everyone, "Have any of you picked up or bought anything unusual? Anything at all."

There was silence for a moment as if everyone was thinking the same line, "I sure didn't." Except for Melphina who brought her mind back to the watch upon her wrist. She brought it close to her face looking at the embossed design upon it, the Chinese dragon that snaked its way to the top.

"Um…" Melphina tried to speak up, "I did."

Armand looked over to Melphina and motioned her to come forward, "Come miss, show me."

Melphina took the watch off of her wrist and handed it to Armand who looked at both the cup and watch together. He looked at them in the same way that a kid looks when they found something that they had lost. Something that was loved immensely and then regained after it was lost.

"At last." Armand whispered

"What is it, then?" Lupin asked

Armand had explained briefly the significance of the objects he held. How they were pieces of his masters power, and that they would need to return them to him at his Dark Tower.

"That does explain the power of the cup to heal." Jim had assessed, "But what does the watch do?"

"God and my master only know what it can do." Armand spoke, "But we shall deal with that a little later, but first we must deal with Butcho, or we'll never leave this town. No doubt he already has men looking for us."

Armand gave the watch and the cup back to the ones who picked them up. After he brought some paper to the table he began to outline what he had planned ever since Butcho and the Obsessed came to the lands of Mydar.

"As I mentioned before, Butcho will be celebrating his fortieth birthday today. There's a million ways that this could go wrong, so we gotta do this carefully."

Quietly the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew agreed and knew all together that they could trust each other as well as put their faith in Armand El Mariachi. They had to, because there really was no other choice about it.

To the east, about three miles out of town there was an old mission, built in the same way as the houses in Little Mexico. It was made of clay and wood, yet it had such quaintness. Its walls containing rooms while above the main wooden gate was the large cast iron bell. The building, which was Butcho's Palace, was an old Spanish Mission. Yet, throughout it there was not a single priest of nun there. All there was were Butcho, his men, his women, and guards armed with guns atop the twenty-foot walls at every post.

At the front gate there were two men. One sat upon a horse looking down at the dirt road that snaked its way into the town of Rachel below. The man on the horse reached up to his face to scratch his scraggily beard as the wind blew through his hear that showed its age with the grayish hairs around his ears. This man was the vicious drug lord over Rachel, Butcho, a member of the Obsessed.

Below standing on his feet was his right hand man, Jefe. He stood holding his rifle in one hand while the other had its thumb hooked into one of his twin crisscrossing belts that held his rifle rounds. He looked in the same direction as Butcho from under his sombrero. He then looked back up at his boss who seemed to have a lot on his mind. Jefe had known Butcho for years, so he was in tune to what his boss and friend was feeling.

"It will be a great day today, Butcho." Jefe smiled exposing his dirty and very yellow teeth from his years of smoking. "There will be a great many presents for you."

"Si." Butcho said in flat agreement, but then stated, "But the one thing I want in this world is the head of Armand El Mariachi. That bandido has eluded us since the day he escaped out master." He paused for a moment, "Did you hear that he showed up today? He took down an agent outside the Hotel Rachel."

"Si, Butcho." Jefe nodded, "I also heard that there were strange people with him too."

"Maldito sea!" Butcho cursed, "I thought that he would come to rescue his students…maldito sea…"

"Do not worry about it, Butcho." Jefe advised, "Because I think you will like the presents here today. I have put many piñatas in the store room each of them filled with little surprises."

"Many piñatas?" Butcho asked taking his mind away from the enemy and focus upon his celebration

"Many piñatas, many!" Jefe said with a great smile on his tanned face happy to see his boss and friend thinking about something else.

Butcho smiled back showing his equally yellow teeth behind his beard, "Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?" He asked his right hand man

"A what?" Jefe asked

"A plethora." Butcho repeated

Jefe felt confused by the word _plethora_, but so as to not upset Butcho he played along with it, "Si, Butcho. You have a plethora."

Still smiling Butcho asked, "Jefe, what is a plethora?"

Jefe felt even more confused, "Why, Butcho?"

Butcho started to explain his logic, "Well, you told me I have a plethora and I would just like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he had a plethor and find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a _plethora_."

Jefe already felt stupid by this but he wanted to try to calm Butcho down if he could.

"Forgive me, Butcho." He bowed his head lowering the brim of his sombrero over his face but rose up again to look at his boss, "I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior _intellect_ and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else and are looking to take it out on me?"

"Like what, Jefe?" Butcho asked curiously

Jefe shrugged as he hooked his thumb back into his belt, "Could it be because you are turning forty today?"

"No." Butcho shook his head as he looke din a different direction away from Jefe's gaze

"Could it be because Rally and Minnie May choose to sleep in their cell instead of with you?"

Butcho grew a look on his face, a kind of light grimace or a "maybe" kind of face that said "maybe" without actually saying it. After all it was one of those looks where a person wouldn't have to hear it from their lips. All they could do was just look into their face and see the answer there.

Jefe then drew upon his own experience with women to give advice to Butcho.

"Why don't you just take them, Butcho?" He said politely as well as egging him on to do what he thinks he wants to do, "When you want land, you take the land. When you want cattle, you take the cattle. When you want the women, you just take the women. Why don't you just take them?"

"Jefe." Butcho smiled like a father explaining to his son his own interpretation of life's mysteries, "You do know understand women. You cannot force open the petals of a flower. When the flower is ready it opens itself to you."

Jefe smiled back, "When do you think that Rally and Minnie-may will…'open up their flowers' to you?"

"Tonight." Butcho smiled and then turned angry as he uttered, "_or__ I will kill them!_"

In the heat of their discussion, Butcho and Jefe didn't notice that something was coming up the dirt road to his palace. They looked together and they saw a horse drawn cart coming closer. The man driving the cart was dressed completely in rags, so much that they covered his face. The only parts of him that were exposed were his hands that held the reigns of the horses. The cart itself was just a simple wood construction, everything down to the wheels, such a wooden design that it squeaked as it rolled up to the gates of Butcho's palace.

"Stop!" Jefe halted the cart as he approached it and the ragged man stopped his carts.

"I bring presents for Butcho." The ragged man said, his voice sounding old and dry.

Jefe went to the back of the cart finding that there wasn't only one cart but there was a second one being pulled behind the first one. Both of them had brown tarps over the cargo area and so Jefe went to the first one and flipped open the tarp. All he found underneath it were a couple of piñatas. He went to the cart behind it and found the same thing: piñatas.

"He's alright, Butcho." Jefe called out to his boss

Yet, Butcho couldn't help but be suspicious. He couldn't take his eyes off of the ragged man. It's the curse that men of power have, the more they have of it the more paranoid they become. Then again, they usually do have a right to be paranoid because they have so much to loose, but even then there has to be trust somewhere. And Butcho had trust in Jefe, but he didn't trust the ragged man.

"You there!" Butcho pointed at the ragged man, "Take off your hood!"

The ragged man quickly obliged Butcho's request. He took his hands away from the reigns of his horses to the hem of his rags around his face. He pulled the hood back around his neck revealing himself to Butcho. The ragged man had long hair that was brushed back from his receding hairline. His nose was rather long, pointed, and narrow. His beard was long but had no mustache to complete it.

Butcho took a good long look at his face.

"You can pass." He said and turned back to the wooden gates, "Open the doors!" He called as the ragged man pulled the hood back over his face.

Jigen drove the cart passed the wooden gates of Butcho's palace, and as he pulled in, on the right side of his face under his disguise as a ragged man, his tooth began to ache. It always happened whenever he got nervous or extremely twitchy about a situation. For Jigen, getting him in that state of mind would be extremely hard. The whole sneaking around bit was not in Jigen's style, if he was to face an enemy he'd rather do it face to face. Still that tooth ached and pounded within his jaw. In that agony, he wished to God that he had some Novocain or at least some whiskey.

"Gettin' too old for this crap." He thought to himself as he pulled the carts behind one of the many pillars that held up the upper balconies of the mission.

Jigen looked left and right and whispered to the carts behind him, "Coast is clear."

From underneath the tarp of both carts came the rest of the Lupin Crew as well as the Outlaw Six and Armand. All of them dressed in different attire. The men were dressed in dirty serapes so filthy that just a single pat on them would send up a cloud of dirt. As the men got off of the cart they each took a sombrero to wear as well as a gun to take underneath, while in Armand's case he took his guitar case with him.

The women on the other hand, Fujiko Asia, Sazuka, and Melphina were dressed in clothes befitting Mexican dancers. Strapless dresses with low cut necks that gave away so much of their ample bosoms, especially in the cases of the most voluptuous of them. Each dress also had such light and wonderful colors, yellow, red, green, orange, blue, all of them so bright and vibrant, like the colors of the paper on the piñatas. Though there were some who complained of it.

"Is this absolutely necessary?" Sazuka asked as she tried to bring up the low neck of her dress so that her breasts wouldn't be so exposed.

"There's no shame in showing off a little skin." Fujiko advised as she came down off the cart.

"Quite a piece of work." Lupin complemented to Armand, "A Hologram Image Generator."

"Yeah, when that guy threw off the tarp I thought we were goners for sure." Jim said as he brushed a little bit of sweat off of his brow.

"We all know what to do." Amrand said to his group of both gunman and swordsmen, "Goemon, Lupin, and Jim come with me. While the rest of you try to mix in with the crowd. Once we come back with Rally and May, I'll give you the signal, got it?"

Everyone nodded and they all moved out amongst the crowd.

Within the courtyard of the mission the celebration of Butcho's fortieth birthday had already begun with the piñatas being hung like Christmas lights from the central flag pole. Butcho's men firing off their guns wildly into the air as they screamed _Viva Butcho!_ Then the dancing started, the salsa music played with such vibrancy that it seemed that the instruments possessed their players to play what they wanted to be played.

Down below the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were blending in as much as possible. The women dancing around showing themselves off to the men, especially Fujiko who was such a professional at teasing men, while the men of the groups were trying to mix in with Butcho's men reciting lines in Spanish that Armand had told them and swigging back bottles of tequila that were being given out.

The tequila tasted oddly strange to most of them. It tasted a little bit like sake, yet it seemed to have such a sharper bite to it. Yet, despite its taste the men tried not to give themselves away. While at the Eastern side of the courtyard, Armand with Goemon, Lupin, and Jim snuck into the doorway that led to the "cells". It truly was a good thing that everyone was having such a wonderful time. The only guards on duty were the ones upon the posts guarding the mission itself form invaders, it felt as easy as falling off a log when they slipped through the door and setting their plans into motion.

Within one of the man "cells" Rally Vincent and Minnie-may Hopkins sat in wait. The room they waited in was a traditional "cell", back in the day when Butcho's Palace was a mission; it was a room that a nun or a priest would sleep in. That much was obvious from the lack of objects in the room, hailing to the vow of poverty that every nun and priest must take There were only statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on the night stand, a crucifix on one of the walls, and a portrait of the last supper. The only pieces of furniture were the twin beds, a table, chairs, and a night stand.

Rally and May sat at the table as they heard the music coming through the windows as well as through the balcony door, if it could be called a balcony. It was more like a short section jutting out from their cell that overlooked the courtyard.

Hearing the music, Rally and May knew that they would have to be Butcho's women for the night after the party was over. Yet, the two of them felt disgusted with such thoughts as those. Death seemed to be a better option, or just escaping…if they had their weapons. As well as some clothes that aren't so hard to move in, at least for Rally. The tow of them were dressed in those same Flamingo dancer dresses; low cut necks, strapless, hem down to the ankles, and in colors like the piñatas that were hung outside. Minnie-May found the dress to be quite flattering to her figure, but then again she always the more feminine between the two of them that Armand had affectionately called "The Gun Smith Cats".

Minnie-May did look rather young for her age, but she always had such a sweet and innocent look to her with her blonde hair, blue eyes, and always smiling face. On the other hand she isn't exactly innocent when it came to her weapon of choice: explosives. For Minnie-May Hopkins was a complete bomb freak. Anything that exploded was her taste; grenades, C-4, detonators, TNT, and so on. Once she would start using those things it was rather hard to stop her, which is why Rally Vincent is the voice of reason to May when it came to those sorts of situations.

Rally on the other hand was a little more mature than May on a physical level as well as mental level. She had deep auburn hair that came down to her shoulders and gave her a set of sharp bangs around her ears. She looked down at the table with her deep blue eyes and tried to think.

No great plans came to her. Minnie-May didn't have any brilliant plans either. It was frustrating to her, because she was so used to being on top of a situation. At least that's how Armand taught her, and she did miss him above all else. She started to wonder where he was and that was when a huge thud rang outside the door to their cell.

Rally and May got up wondering what was going on out there. The door knob turned and the door opened. At first they were expecting Butcho to come in and give them their last ultimatum that either they would be his sex slaves or they would die. Yet, their hearts soared to the levels of euphoria that they wanted to sing and dance when the saw Armand el Mariachi coming through that door.

"Armand." Rally uttered as she dashed across the room and threw her arms around his neck. She hugged him closely then took a step back and gave him a good hard punch to his stomach. Armand bent over from the shock of the attack.

"What took you so long?" Rally snarled at Armand.

"Found some help." Armand wheezed

As Armand recovered, it was up to May to try to patch the situation.

"Please, forgive Rally." She said to the others who followed Armand into the room, "She can be touchy at times."

"Is she your girlfriend, Armand?" Lupin smirked

"You're lucky I don't have my gun." Rally threatened Lupin

"Hate to break your ego miss, but that wasn't the first time a woman's threatened me."

"I'm not surprised." Rally cocked her eyebrow

"Enough." Armand said as he got back up, "Rally, May. We're here to get you out and free the King of Mydar."

"'Bout time." Rally smiled then she looked at her dress, "This damn dress and high heels."

"At least Armand came to you instead." May grinned sheepishly

"Oh, shut up." Rally pouted

"Come on, everyone." Jim advised, "Let's get going before Butcho catches on."

Outside in the courtyard, the dancing and music stopped in favor of a feast. Several long tables were set up as Butcho and his men sat, ate, and drank tequila straight form the bottle. The eating was rather quiet; perhaps it was because all the energies were spent in all the dancing and singing that they were doing a few minutes ago.

Jefe decided it was time for the birthday traditions. He reached for his gun in his holster and fired one shot into the air, his bullet missing the many piñatas that were strung over head. But the shot had caught the attention of the men who stopped their eating and drinking.

"Compadres!" Jefe called out, "We're here to celebrate Butcho's birthday!"

The men cheered as they took a good swig from their tequila bottles.

"Today, Butcho is…" Jefe suddenly remembered how sensitive Butcho is about his age. He looked down at Butcho who was giving him a very sharp glance at Jefe. His look seemed to say, _don't you dare tell them that!_ Jefe turned his head back to the men with a younger age in mind as he raised his tequila bottle, "Thirty-three years old!"

The men cheered again as they took another great swig from their tequila bottles.

As Butcho ate he suddenly thought about his men his loyal men. That was when he stood up and decided to make his speech.

"Amigos!" He called out, "What we have done, we've done together! I know each of you like I know my own smell!"

As Butcho looked out among the crowd of men, there was Gene Starwind. He was trying his best to blend in as much as possible. It seemed for a moment that the half-baked plan was going along as was hoped at least until Butcho came over and addressed each individual man.

"Juan!" He laid his hand upon the man's shoulder as the others cheered out his name, "Together we took over the town of Rachel for ourselves!"

The men cheered once again.

Butcho moved down to another one of his men, "Carlos!" Butcho smiled as the men cheered his name and rose their tequila bottles, "Together we fought the priests of this mission."

The men raised their tequila bottles over their heads in their cheer for Carlos. While just a few feet away from Butcho, Gene was scared shitless about what to do, the plan was to blend in until Armand came back. Yet, he didn't see him anywhere; all he knew was that he had to turn things around real fast before he ends up in a prison cell and becomes someone's bitch.

As he thought about the terrible consequences, Butcho came up to him with a smile on his face and addressed him.

"And you?" He asked

The name came right out of Gene's mouth, "Jose!"

"Jose!" Butcho repeated as the men cheered, "Together we?"

"Burn the village!" Gene cheered trying to stay within character of his own half-baked plan.

"Burn the village!" Butch cheered with him along with the men like a chorus line, "And we?"

"Um…" Gene stammered, for a bit and then made the slip, "Raped the horses!"

"Raped the horses!" Butch cheered with the men, "And we?"

"Um…rode off on the women!" Gene said completing his slip

"Rode off on the women!" Butcho cheered with the rest of the men not noticing the silliness that was going on as he asked, "And we?"

"Plunder!" Gene answered back

"Plunder! And we?"

"Pruned…"

"Pruned of the?"  
"Hedges…"

"Hedges."

"Of many small villages!" Gene felt confident that the half-baked plan of his was going to be a real bust.

"Of many small villages…" Butcho repeated and then yelled out, "Who the hell are you?!"

"It's a goddamn gringo!" Jefe shouted out as he cocked his gun at Gene's head.

"Take him away!" Butcho shouted out his order and then started his own small rant, "What is happening around here today? Everything was good and this gringo shows up! What's next? Gringos falling from the sky?"

Just as Butcho started in on his rant, Gene looked over to the Eastern wall of the courtyard. Within that wall was the door that Armand and his little team went through. Next to that door was Armand and a couple of new people with him. While the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six weren't with him, Gene knew that they were in place. Armand raised two fingers to his brow and gave off a small salute.

It was the signal.

Throughout the courtyard the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had positioned themselves at several points so as to overtake the mission. There was Jigen at the balcony at the North end of the mission. The higher ground would have given him a better advantage for his gunmanship skills. Zenigata had a similar idea for the balcony upon the Western end.

The women in the courtyard (Melphina, Sazuka, Asia, and Fujiko) were bringing themselves closer to Butcho, while Goemon was in the shadows with his Zantetsuken under his serape ready to strike with his Iai lighting fast reflexes.

Armand had told all of them that there were a hundred ways that the plan could go wrong…and he was right.

At every position that the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were at, one of Butcfho's men had cornered them. Jigen, Lupin, Fujiko, Goemon, Zenigata, Gene, Jim, Asia, Sazuka, Armand, Rally, and May; all of them were trapped at the receiving end of a gun…and that wasn't even the half of it.

"We've caught them, Butcho!" The men cried out as they kept their eyes on their captives.

"Ah!" Butcho smiled, "Now this day has gotten better."

From among the many faces of Butcho's men something unusual was taking place. This particular foot soldier began to tremble and shake, like that of an epileptic seizure when all the muscles tighten, the body spasms, and the victim can do nothing about it. This foot soldier of Butcho's clutched onto his twelve-gauge rifle as another presence overtook him. He cried out and his voice started to sound muffled as if it were being processed through a one tone speaker. His eyes blackened and became reflective behind the eyelids. Then his clothes changed, his serape sinking inward into his skin and becoming a suit underneath, while a pair of sunglasses came from his blackened and reflective eyes. And so the change was complete as a new Agent dropped the twelve-gauge rifle and approached Butcho.

The agent that approached Butcho was the very same Agent that Fujiko had shot back at the hotel Rachel; Agent Smith, it was absolutely shocking to the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outalw Six to see someone just appear out of nowhere (for starters) and then see the same person come back to life without a scratch upon him.

"Butcho." Agent Smith smiled in a very crooked way, "Congratulations upon the capture of these criminals."

"I've always enjoyed serving our master." Butcho smiled back, "Now, what does our master wish to do with these, gringos?"

"The orders are to kill them, except Armand. Our master wants him alive." Smith said in that same slow halting voice, "I've also been told that two of these criminals carry something that our master has a great interest in taking."

"Who?" Butcho asked, "And what are they carrying?"

"Both are women." Smith explained, "One carried a cup and the other a watch."

The conversation could be heard by those who were closest. Though hearing it already made them feel the fear and panic swirling over their skin in that flash of heat under their clothes. Gene Starwind feared for Melhpina the most since she was the one who carried the watch. He also knew that Lupin must feel that same panic and fear for Fujiko. After all Lupin did love Fujiko even though Fujiko had been an on and off flame to Lupin.

It seemed like the end of the road for them all. That all their adventures and hardships would end there in that mission in an unknown land called Mydar. Except in their hearts they refused to lie down and die, but what could they do? Only a miracle could get them out of it.

As Melphina listened to the conversation that was deciding the fate of her friends and loved ones, she suddenly felt something. It was a slight tickle in the back of her mind. That tickle was like those times of great prowess she displayed when she and the others searched for the Galactic Leyline. The tickle in the back of her mind nagged at her like a child tugging on their parents sleeve asking them to pay attention to them for a moment. It was that sensation that made Melphina look to her left to her raised hand that she brought up when the guns were pointed at her. She looked and saw that watch.

She gazed as she saw the dragon start to move slowly upon its embossed surface. Her eyes widened as if slithered within the watches surface, while the dragon kept its face looking fully at Melphina. Its eyes began to burn red like the coals of a hot fire. From within the watch sprouted a new button upon the right edge of the face; it came out as if something within the watch was pushing it out. Melphina looked at the button and then back at the dragon whose body continued to slither about while its head stayed in the same position.

It became clear to her.

She moved her hand into place with her index finger over the new button as Butcho's foot soldier started to shout in Spanish but Melphina didn't listen as she pushed the button. In pushing the button she heard a great bang like a gunshot but she also saw a flash of bright light like the flash of a camera. Melphina tried to adjust her eyes to the after images of the flash. As she did everything became clearer to her.

To her front she saw a bullet. It was frozen in mid-air while the one who fired it was standing still. His gun having that flash explosion out of its muzzle after his shot was fired. She looked around to find everything frozen in place, even her friends, all were frozen stiff. Instinctively she waved her hand in front of the eyes of the man who fired that gunshot to asses what was happening to her.

Again, that tickle took over and Melphina had her own moment of clarity like Fujiko with the cup before her. She had stopped time all around her or perhaps she was moving so fast that it looked like time was stopped. With that newfound knowledge she went back to the bullet that was fired. She reached out to it grabbed it around its side with her thumb and index finger. She felt its heat but that didn't matter to her, she twisted its course back to the one who fired it. As thought began to build upon thought, she developed a great idea.

Meanwhile, in normal time, to the eyes of those watching, Melphina seemed to vanish and what's more every one began to see a colorful blur zipping from one place to another. As soon as it was discovered, Butcho's men began to notice that their guns were being stolen or that's the conclusion that they came to when their guns and gun belts had vanished into nothingness.

"What is happening around here?!" Butcho shouted at the top of his lungs

"I don't know, Butcho." Jefe said as he looked around himself

"It's the watch." Smith snarled to himself

"Esta Diablos!" One of Butcho's men shouted and just like the start of a wildfire panic overtook them. Much like when the flood gates are opened, Butcho's men fled for the front gates.

"You cowards!" Butcho cursed at his own men. He never got a chance to see it then, but if he did he would have figured that blind loyalty isn't loyalty at all. That was displayed by Jefe who held his ground while the men fled.

"I'm still here, Butcho!" Jefe smiled

While the men were fleeing, Melphina's idea was going along as smoothly as polished marble. She had managed to disarm all of Butcho's men and none of them had suspected a thing until it was all too late. By the time she was done disarming all of them men, Melphina pressed that same button again. There was that same flash that left afterimages in her vision like a camera flash. Soon she saw all of time speed back up to its normal pace with the men running out the gates like cockroaches scattering from the light. She did give a little smile to the idea that no one had any idea of what was going on. She joined her friends of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew whom had gathered over where Armand stood. She heard Jefe make his declaration to his boss and friend, _I'm still here, Butcho!_

BANG!

A gunshot rang out and instantly Jefe fell over dead onto the sandy soil of the mission. All that was left at that mission were the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, Armand, Rally, May, Butcho, Agent Smith, and the dead man Jefe. Instinctively everyone left there knew where the shot came from and they all looked and saw the truth. They saw Armand with a gun in his hand, its barrel still smoking from the shot he just fired. The echo of the shot still ringing out throughout the whole mission and everyone felt floored by what they had witnessed. Of course, the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had seen people killed but not in such an out-of-the-blue sort of way, but the effect was harder elsewhere.

Butcho looked down at the body of his friend and felt true loss. Jefe was always with him like his own flesh and blood while the other men scattered. He then looked back at his enemy and felt his own grief transform into rage that burned hotter than the flames of hell itself. He reached for the gun at his side and took aim at Armand, but the weapon smith shot first, the bullet banged against the gun and fell out of his hand. Butcho grasped his hand in pain while he looked back at Armand who still stood there with his gun in hand and that look in his eye. A look that demanded retribution from him, but Butcho wasn't going to go down so easily and neither was Agent Smith.

"I'll stop this now." Smith said as he drew his enormous hand cannon, yet the speed at which he drew the gun was like a blur. To the eyes of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six, it was just like before; only in that mission there would be no cars to hide behind. Again it seemed like the end, until Melphina acted. She quickly reached down and pressed that button again, the flash came, and all time slowed down to a crawl. She looked at the Agent across the courtyard and saw that his hand reaching for his gun was slowed down to a slow reach that a sneaky man does when going for something in his coat pocket. She waited for what felt like a few minutes to her but were only fractions of a second in normal time.

The agent had pulled the trigger and slowly the bullet came out of the barrel of then gun and so it was that Melphina stepped into action. She waited until the bullet was a good distance out and that was when she took the bullet by its sides and changed its course back to the agent. Yet, she knew the speed at which the Agents move, so she watched until the bullet was touching the cloth of his suit.

It felt like over half an hour had passed before the bullet was within range and the agent did try to move, but Melphina was moving quicker and so she changed the course of the bullet again straight for the forehead of the Agent. Its tip touching the very skin of his forehead and Melphina knew that the move was done. She stepped back and pressed the button again and the world sped up to normal time once again, and the Agent fell over dead and changed back into that nameless foot soldier of Butcho's.

With only Butcho left he looked up at Melphina who was only a few feet away from him. He smiled at her showing his yellow teeth, "That was a good trick." She said.

As Melphina rejoined her friends, Butcho looked down at the ground, to Jefe's hand where he held his gun; he rolled onto the ground, getting it into his hand and took aim at Armand. Another shot rang out and the gun that Butcho took from Jefe's hand flew out like the last one he used.

"You reach for another gun and I'll blow your hand off!" Armand threatened

"That's enough, Armand!" Lupin demanded, "The fight is already over."

"It's not over." Armand whispered sinisterly to Lupin, "Not until the worms feast upon his bones."

"You don't have that right." Lupin tried to reason

"Who are you to moralize with me, thief?"

Armand made a good point, after all the things that Lupin had stolen would have racked up to the Gross National Product of a small country. So, who was he to say what was right and what was wrong?

As Lupin and Armand argued back and forth about the ethics of the situation, Butcho was taking advantage of it. He inched his way to one of the guns on the ground. He kept eying the gun and those over on the other side arguing over his fate. He had the gun in his hand and took his third aim at Armand El Mariachi, victory and revenge would be his.

"This is for you, Jefe." Butcho whispered

"Armand!" Rally screamed as she snatched the gun from Armand's hand.

The first shot was fired…and then it was all finished with the second. Everyone in the courtyard stood frozen waiting to see who was killed. It then became apparent that when Butcho fell over to his death that it was over and it was not Armand who pulled the trigger. It was his protégé, Rally Vincent who protected her masters' life. She smiled as she thought to herself something her father loved to recite when she was young, _a well armed populous is the best defense against tyranny._

Later that day with the sun setting in the west, the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, Armand and his Gunsmith Cats were well on the road to the City of Nash. On their way they could see the very thing that they had been questing for; the Dark Tower. It just loomed in the distance behind a curtain of clouds as it reached upward to the sky. To the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six it was immense. Its height rivaled that of the Sears Tower in Chicago and its visual complexity was that of Heyfong City.

"Incredible." Lupin uttered to himself.

Everyone could feel something very thick in the air, like that space at the top of the roller coaster. It's not quite climbing and it's not quite making the first drop. Just that space of nothingness where something great was about to happen and everyone knew about it.

Armand thought about it and made a prayer in his mind, _May God help us all for what we will face._

To be continued…


	19. The City of Nash

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 19: The City of ****Nash******

000

Speeding ahead from the west was Blain the Mono going full speed ahead carrying the Kenshin Gumi, the Peace Guns, Bartleby The Spy, Loki the Warrior, and Jake Chambers the Key Master. Its silvery exterior blazing in the morning sun as it sped across the plains over rivers to reach its destination in the City of Nash.

The journey had been a long one for all of them. First starting in their own comfortable surroundings, the planet Gunsmoke, Japan in the eleventh year of the Meiji Era, and suddenly to be thrown into such a situation where a great destiny rested upon their shoulders. Thinking back on the road to being inside a silver colored bullet-shaped train was long, messy, frightening, as well as funny on top of it all. After all they would have some great stories to tell once they got back home. Such as there was that three headed knight that argued with itself and the Knights who say "Ni!", time always has that effect to put a humorous venire over events that were frightening at the time. But most of all there were the friends that they had made.

Though it may have appeared to be smooth sailing from the outside, inside there was a great deal of un rest. As Bartleby said, in answering his question to Wolfwood at what was at the tower:

"It's not what's at the tower that worries me." He said sitting back in his big very comfortable chair.

"Then what?" Wolfwood asked

"What will be at the station in Nash when we arrive?"

Though Bartleby had never revealed it at first, after all he could see anywhere in the present as well as into the hearts and minds of anyone he meets. For this man who had the face of an angel could definitely see what was waiting for them at the train station in the City of Nash. In his minds eye he saw dozens of men, women, and creatures all standing on the platform like a Venus Fly Trap waiting to swallow up its prey. Bartleby knew this and he couldn't' hide it from the more telepathic of the Peace Guns.

"You already know what's going to be there." Knives said aloud to Bartleby.

The spy looked at Knives and smiled, "I can't hide anything from you can I?" Bartleby asked, "I would've had to tell all of you sooner or later."

And so Bartleby the Spy revealed what he knows about what was waiting at the station.

"So, what do we do?" Meryl asked

"Don't be stupid, missy." Sano cracked his knuckles, "We fight them."

"I'm with Sano on that one." Loki smirked boyishly, "Just go out there and kick some ass, bust some caps, split some wigs, and all that goes with it."

"Then this means we're all in agreement, that we are." Kenshin smiled

Vash shook his head, "We've come too far to just give up."

"In that case, how shall we go about it?" Meryl asked

"Blaine?" Bartleby called out to the train's computer.

"Yes, Bartleby." Blaine answered back in that sweet southern stewardess voice

"How long until we reach the station in the City of Nash?"

"Approximately one hour and fifty minutes."

Bartleby looked back to the company he had, gunmen, swordsmen, ruffians, and outlaws. He smiled to himself.

"Let's plan." He said.

For the time that they had they went through every scheme and attack plan that they could think of. Each one was met with the same kind of result that they all had faced no matter how the plan was made.

Fifteen minutes was left until they would pull in at the station and already they felt themselves being brought under the gun.

"We can't attack them the minute we get out the door." Bartleby voice, "Because the numbers that are at the station, no doubt we'll all be dead before we even take a good shot at them."

"Even if we wait for them to come into the train," Loki postulated, "That would just be more trouble. Putting us into a siege kind of situation and that's the last position that I'd like to be in."

To Bartleby, it was strange for Loki to take such a caution in such an endeavor. On the other hand both of them knew what was at stake. The freedom of Mydar, and that's something too big to risk by simply charging at the enemy.

"Why don't we try to jump from the train?" Kaworu asked

Bartleby, Jake, and Loki all shook their heads.

"At the speed this trains going," Bartleby pointed out, "We'll all be dead when we hit the ground."

"And we'll be no closer to getting inside the City of Nash." Loki added

"So, what the hell are we supposed to do?" Sanosuke asked out of bitter frustration, "Just wait here to die?"

"In my opinion, that's not an option." Wolfwood stood up with that statement, "The only option there is, is to find a way out of this."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Kenshin asked

"I don't know."

As the arguing continued, Jake Chambers took off his back pack and opened it. Inside it was filled with keys, all kinds of keys for different locks. Yet, he pulled one out, the very one that he carved out of the branch of that tree. He held it in his hand as the voices of the others were being drown out like being submerged in water. Only hearing muffled voices and all attention was brought to the object in his hand. With all attention focused upon it, his eyes witnessed as it glowed brighter and brighter, and Jake understood immediately what he had been saying all along.

"Another way" he whispered to himself. "That's what the master taught me, there's always another way."

As he whispered this to himself, the others heard him.

"What was that, Jake?" Loki asked

Jake tightened the grip on the key, he stood up, "There's always another way."

"Ok, then what?" Sano asked

Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a black felt pen marker. Without saying a word he went for the door of the train. With the key in one hand and the marker in the other Jake went to work. Behind him the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns along with Bartleby and Loki watched as Jake worked.

They saw the young boy sitting down upon the floor in front of the door and began to draw on the wall with the marker. Ironically, there were children in homes who would have been punished for writing or drawing on the walls. Except everyone aboard the train knew that there had to be some kind of method for the madness, they watched as Jake drew a circle for a door knob, a diamond for a keyhole, and a rectangle that encased the doorknob and keyhole.

Jake stood up, placed the cap back onto his felt tip marker, and put it back in his pocket. He looked back down at the piece of work he had done as he took out the key he carved. He placed its pointed tip against the diamond shaped keyhole with his friends watching over his shoulders.

At first the key simply stayed where it was, but with a little more push from Jake's hand the key went through the drawn keyhole. Sinking in up to the handle and Jake took the key's handle fully and gave it a good, solid, three-hundred-sixty degree turn, and pulled the key back out.

The next thing that they all witnessed was a real doorknob, keyhole, and brass rectangular fixture that sprung right out of the door that originally had none of those things. With the doorknob sticking out, Jake reached for it, took the cold brass in his hand, turned it, and just like any other door, it opened.

Beyond the door, they didn't see the outside that was speeding by. Instead they saw the inside of a very dingy looking room.

"Come on." Jake said as he was the first one to step through it. Then as quickly as Jake went through, Bartleby the Spy, Loki the Warrior, the Kenshin Gumi, and the Peace Guns all stepped through. With that last member through, Jake closed the door behind them.

Yet, back inside Blaine the Mono as it rolled into the City of Nash, with the platform filled with operatives and soldiers of the Obsessed, the door that was the escape route became normal again. The ink that Jake had used to make the door knob, keyhole, and rectangle began to vanish. Simply fade away like writing in the sand that the wind was blowing away.

000

To the north, along the road that curved its way around the Great Lake was the bus that held the members of the Sailor Senshi, the Evangelions (Asuka Langely Sohryuu, Shinji Ikari, and Misato Katsuragi), and the one driving the bus, Draco the Beast Master. It had been quite a long journey for them, first starting out on foot, traveling in the saddlebags of a dragon, to riding on a bus. It truly was quite amazing what had happened only within the space of a twelve hour day. It was only a few days ago that the Evangelions and Senshi had only special abilities. The Senshi with their transformation powers and the attacks they had. The Evangelions…in the beginning they themselves could only pilot the Eva's, nothing more.

Then after spending one day in the lands of Mydar all of that changed for all of them. They could control an element (even the Senshi in their non-transformed state), and in the ride on that bus the depth and gravity of what had and what would happen began to sink in. It is usually at times like this when something unimaginable happens that people are either really quiet or they talk about it.

In the case of the ones on that bus, more of them were quiet because they were asleep.

Shinji on the other hand was asleep until he woke up to a song playing on his tape player. Thanks to the supplies that were picked up in that town of Hiker's Point, Shinji could hear that wonderful song once again. He smiled as he awoke to that hauntingly sad song that seemed to echo everything he felt back there in that hell hole that was his life.

_Is this the real life?_

_Is this just fantasy?_

_Caught in a landslide._

_No escape from reality_

_Open your eyes, _

_Look up to the skies and see_

_I'm just a poor boy_

_I need no strife_

_Because I'm easy come_

_Easy go…_

_Little high…._

_Little low…_

_Anyway the wind blows…_

_Doesn't really matter to me…_

_To me…_

As Shinji awoke he couldn't help but look out the window. Out at the thing upon the island in the middle of the vast lake, The Dark Tower. At night when the bus was passing by different towns as the road bordered the edge of the lake, the tower was like a void in an otherwise star-filled sky. It seemed almost like looking down into a well, only light around the edges before it stretches into the dark abyss.

As the morning sun began to rise over the mountains in the east, the tower still looked black as could be. It seemed to be like some kind of void in the universe. A scary and somewhat exciting place to be going to, but Shinji's mind that morning wasn't on the Tower when he thought about the destination. The City of Nash.

The feeling of familiarity was still there for Shinji and it only got stronger with the passing hours. He had made several attempts to reach out with his new found powers but he was no closer to finding out what was there. The only thing that improved was the increased feeling of memory, knowing that whatever was out there it was something or someone from his past. Realizing that, Shinji tried to think of the possible people that it could be. Kaji, Kenuske, Suzahara, Ritsuko, Rei, his father? Thinking about names Shinji threw out each one, saying that it couldn't be, because the "aura" (if it could be called that) of whoever was out there was kinder than any of those people.

Whoever it was, Shinji was certain about one thing:

It was getting closer.

As the morning sun began to rise up higher and higher over the Dark Tower, the others on the bus slowly began to awaken. It wasn't suddenly like the way a person wakes up to an alarm clock. For the rest of the Evangelions and the Sailor Senshi they had awakened very naturally and slowly. Of course, sleeping on a bus is quite a far cry from sleeping in a bed, but it certainly beats sleeping on the hard wet ground.

With the few awake, they couldn't help but look out the windows, after all what else could they look at? TO the west they saw forests sprawling out over miles and miles of land with a river flowing through it, branching off in a few places as it stretched on into the horizon.

Yet, to the east they all knew what was there. The tower was just like a monument that everyone knows about or rather the proverbial elephant in the room that everyone knows that's there but no one talks about. Just like the fly in the punch bowl at a garden party that no one has the stomach to mention.

Even with the sights out the windows, one passenger on the bus started to feel a very new kind of sensation. She never knew what it was until she came completely out of sleep and gave her complete attention to it.

With all the other Sailor Senshi looking out the windows at the sights, scenery, and landmarks, Minako now understood what she was feeling. She felt up to the cold metal around her neck, to the ring that hung on a gold chain that was given to her by that man. Carolinas the Green Wizard and keeper of Barret's Wall, he gave Minako the chain and told her something very ominous.

"Keep it safe." He said, "Keep it safe, until it brings you to its master."

Minako took the ring and clutched it in her hand as it was still on its chain. In the warmth of her hand she felt the cold steel warming in her hand. She thought back to how she found the ring in the darkness of that case and how it helped her and her friends' free Carolinas from those members of the Obsessed. The ring felt very different as Minako held it, not like how it was before when she picked it up out of the dirt in the dark. It just felt ordinary, not like how it was inside of Minako's fist.

"It feels heavier." She thought and she opened up her hand and looked at the simple golden band and saw those same odd letters in that golden haze. She thought back to a couple nights ago when Draco had thrown the ring into the fire and the flames brought out the secret that the ring carried.

She remembered Draco's translation of the rings fiery inscription

_I am from the One_

_I am bounded to the One_

_I am ruled by the One_

_And I shall return to the One_

The ring itself was fulfilling its own declaration or perhaps Minako was helping the ring on some kind of unknown or unspoken level. Thinking of it as helping once again, Minako felt that enormous sense of duty, much in the same way when she took on the duty as a Sailor Senshi. She clutched the ring in her fist again thinking about the bigger picture how that there were probably hundreds if not thousands of people waiting for their freedom. As she thought about it, she suddenly felt the bus beginning to slow down.

Immediately she poked her head up over the seats to see what exactly was going on. Yet, she couldn't' see so she got up from her seat already with the mind set of what she was going to ask.

"Why are we slowing down?" She demanded from Draco, looking at him as he looked out at the road.

Draco had already put on the brakes; he raised his hand and pointed out the window. Behind Minako came Shinji Ikari who was also very curious about why they had stopped. The two looked at Draco in his drivers seat never looking at Shinji or Minako, just pointing out the window and down the road.

The two of them followed the line at which Draco was pointing, the direction he pointed led to the road that led on its downward tilt and upon the dusty and paint faded asphalt they came to the City of Nash. It was as expansive as Tokyo (or Tokyo-3 in Shinji's case) buildings stretching up to the sky as if they wanted to be as tall as the Dark Tower itself. Around the edge of the city they saw a wall, as long as the Great Wall of China if its mileage were added up, as tall as the sky scrapers in the city, and as formidable as any defense the Senshi or Evangelions had ever seen, with guards patrolling the parapets like guardians of a great treasure.

As the road came up to meet the wall, Shinji, Minako, and Draco could see the great steel gates, God only knew how thick those doors were, and already there was a doubt about what to do next.

Minako hung her head thinking that everything that had happened would have been in vain. That was when she felt a pair of arms coming around her. She looked up at the face of Shinji Ikari who had a look on his face that seemed to say, _everything's going to be alright. _

As Minako looked into those bluish eyes of Shinji's and like a bolt of lightning she had an idea. Yet, when the idea came over her, it felt like that the idea wasn't hers rather it came from an invisible source that spoke through her.

She broke the embrace and came to Draco's side, "Drive." She said

"What?" Draco asked rather confused but just as he asked he had lost control. Minako hopped onto Draco's lap, like a kid on a mall Santa. She took the wheel, and stamped her foot against the gas pedal which sent the bus flying down the road all the way to the Gates of Nash.

Already, everyone was wide awake and asking what the hell was happening. Yet, all those voices were being drowned out as Minako kept her sights upon that Gate into the City of Nash. The controls did feel a lot more sluggish than those car racing video games that she loved to play almost everyday when school was over and she was on her way to study at Rei's place. Yet, it did feel strange driving a bus as well as sitting on a man's lap while doing it.

Still, the seconds passed rapidly as the Gates of Nash came closer by the second and the guards began their barrage on the bus. Amazingly enough, Minako managed to dodge it using such driving skills that would rival Haruka Tenou's. It felt as if she were possessed at least that's what Minako's friends figured as they gathered up at the front of the bus trying to call to her.

"Stop, Minako!" They would shout, "We're gonna crash! Do you wanna die?"

Even Draco tried to take the wheel back but Minako kept pushing his arms out of the way. Still, there wasn't time as the Gates of Nash were in front of them. It looked like they were going to crash but then as the bus came to the gates, the bus didn't crash. It simply vanished into the wall.

000

To the south of the City of Nash, there was a road that stretched and cut its way through the Redwood Forest to the town of Rachel. It was a town that only recently had been liberated of the vicious drug lord of the Obsessed, Butcho. It was all thanks to the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, Armand El Mariachi, and his students, The Gunsmith Cats. But there was no time to celebrate Rachel's liberation, as the freedom of Mydar took greater priority. Added to that if they stayed in Rachel, no doubt more of the Obsessed would arrive. So it was decided to leave Rachel and head to Nash.

Of course, there was that question that they were leaving Rachel to run from the Obsessed but they were going to head to a city filled with them?

"We're going to have to take the fight to them." Armand had answered

Despite the unspoken dangers, the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six agreed to head to that city. All of them felt as if that they were heading straight into the lion's den, going head on into the danger of it. Yet, each group had their own reasons in going. At first for them it was for money and a way to get home, but after the fight at Butcho's Palace they had second thoughts about it. There had to be more than what met the eye about the situation. It became a quest for answers.

They headed north in a stolen stretched white limousine from Butcho's Garage. It was quite a piece of work considering that it could comfortably seat everyone in their group, and a mini-bar on top of that. After all, even after a day like the one they had, a good stiff drink would be needed.

As the stretched limo drove north through the Redwood forest, past the enormous ancient trees, a couple had sneaked a peek through the sunroof. It was a good thing that the sunroof was big enough otherwise Fujiko and Melphina would have had to take turns in looking down the road.

Down the long stretch of road was the city of Nash, a sprawling city stretching from east to west like the other great cities that they've gone to. The buildings reaching up to the sky like trees made of glass and steel. Then beyond it was the Dark Tower, standing and towering over the buildings in Nash like an ancient tree atop of a hill. It stretched and branched with its spires with each window seemingly hollow. That place seemed like an abandoned house, like the house that no one wants to mention because of its unpleasant memories.

With each mile that the limo took and with the wind blowing in their hair, Fujiko and Melphina felt different about the items that they carried. The cup and the watch, both of them began to feel heavier like a pot being slowly filled with water. Along with the heaviness, they felt that the items knew that they were coming home; going back to the place they came from. It seemed easy not to think of them as objects because both Fujiko and Melphina knew for certain that the items had chosen them to bring them back home. Even that thought seemed to be comforting when looking at that dark and forbidden kind of place.

Both Melphina and Fujiko looked down into the City of Nash, but then they saw something. They saw the wall that surrounded the city as if it were a castle or a fortress. For a moment all that they could concentrate upon was the height of the wall, its formidability, the parapets, the turrets, and the guards that paced between them. Then their view came down the wall to where it met the road, and there they saw the great steel doors. It did look like the entrance to a castle with the steel gate and the turrets upon either side.

Fujiko looked at it and it did spark an old memory of hers, it was back when Lupin came to the little country of Calliastro. It was after robbing a casino in Monte Carlo, it seemed like a good smash and grab job, but Lupin found out that the money he stole was counterfeit. After that he decided to track it down and that brought him to Calliastro where the fake bills were called "goat bills", because of the ram on the Dukes family crest. The castle of Calliastro was immense just like the wall that surrounded the City of Nash. Though Fujiko smiled in thinking that at least there was no moat or it would have made the job a lot harder.

As both Melphina and Fujiko looked at the wall they felt the limo starting to speed up tremendously. It came ot the point where both women dropped back down into the car.

"Hey, what the hell's going on?" Jigen asked

"I'll ask." Fujiko volunteered as she moved her way to the front of the car to speak with their driver, Armand El Mariachi. She knocked on the black Plexiglas window that separated the driver from the rest of the passengers.

"Armand?" She asked as she knocked, "Armand?"

Upon the second hard knock, the Plexiglas window came down and there was Armand in the drivers' seat.

Fujiko wasted no time, "What are you doing? Don't you see that gate ahead?"

"Yes, I do." Armand answered

"Then what are you planning to do?" Gene called out from the back.

"I'm planning on going through the gates." Armand answered to Gene

"Are you crazy?!" Jim shouted at Armand, "That means we're gonna crash!"

"I agree with the kid." Lupin spoke up, "We all may have pulled out some tight spots but that doesn't mean we're invincible."

"Don't worry." Goemon said confidently holding his sword, the Zantetsuken in his ready stance, "I'll cut through those doors."

"And I the same with Goemon." Sazuka volunteered for the task ahead.

As the car sped forward to the gates of Nash, something came over both Melphina and Fujiko.

"Don't." Fujiko said to Goemon

It was quite surprising that Fujiko said that but the way she said it was stranger still. She said it in such a calm tone as if she knew some kind of plan or secret that everything was going to be alright. That in itself was strange, especially to those who knew Fujiko best.

"What are you saying, Fuji?" Lupin asked

"Trust Armand." She said to Lupin

A moment of silence came over them and then Melphina spoke on Fujiko's behalf.

"She's right." She said to the rest of the Outlaw Six, "Trust Armand."

"He hasn't steered any of us wrong before now has he?" Rally asked

"But this is just crazy!" Jim shouted, "All logic states that if we keep going at this speed, we're gonna crash, burn, and more than likely die!"

"We'll find that out soon enough, kid." Lupin said as the Gates of Nash were upon them.

Instinctively more than one of them thought of opening the limo doors and bailing out. That soon turned out to be a bad idea as the guards upon the wall began to rain down their bullets and lasers at the limo. Then the gates were soon inches away from them and there was no time to act or even think. Yet, the limo that Armand drove did not crash into the Gates of Nash. It simply vanished into the wall as if it were never there.

000

To the east, trekking along the northern edge of the Redwood Forest was the Fellowship of the Gundam, who had lost and regained their friend, Gandalf the Gray, who then became Gandalf the White, along with their newest friend, Callina the Songstress. Every member of the Fellowship was overjoyed to see Gandalf returned to them as if God had answered just one plea to bring a loved one back. Though Gandalf had explained what happened at least in a way that the Fellowship could understand.

After his fall into darkness, Gandalf battled with the Black Beast of Ahh in the depths of the Earth, until he had finally vanquished it with a great blow to its eyes. With that blow Gandalf was changed dramatically and he changed from gray to white. With his transformation Gandalf returned and rejoined the Fellowship of the Gundam.

Everyone was so happy that he was back, especially Johan. That much was evident in the first day but something had happened by the second day that changed everything.

It was already mid-day and the Fellowship were trekking along the meadows that bordered between a range of foot hills to the north that rolled from east to west with such lush greenness that they harkened the hills of Ireland and the Redwood forest to the south that was thick with trees of great age.

As they trekked they were all happy that Gandalf was with them that it added a little more bounce in their steps. For Johan the situation seemed to take a different turn. As he walked along with the Fellowship with a smile on his face everything seemed good. Even with the looming Dark Tower in the distance it couldn't faze him one bit, because the moment was good. At least until something struck him like a bee sting and he fell to his knees.

The soft thud of his knees hitting the soft soil beneath him caught the attention of all the Fellowship. They gathered around him much in the same way people just gather around someone who was just injured in a car crash.

"What's wrong, Johan?" Haruka asked coming to the aid of her husband.

Johan reached, he knew when his knees had hit the ground that something was pulling him down. As if a hand had reached up to his belt and yanked him down to the ground. He reached around for the very thing that had yanked him and his hand told him what it was.

"The sword." Johan answered as he got to his feet again, "It's gotten heavier. We must be getting closer."

Heero looked up ahead and saw how the grasslands were beginning to slope upward

"It must be over that hill." Heero said to the others

"It is." Gandalf acknowledged

The Fellowship went on ahead as Johan got up to his feet with Haruka, Julia, and Leto at his side. He had to give himself a little firmer grip into the ground like carrying a bag of sand upon his belt. He walked up the hill with his family still staying at his side never wanting to leave him. Johan's wife and children all felt that same way about him that the Dark Tower may take him away as if it were some malevolent monster out of a fairy tale. And all the members of the Fellowship could see the face of that monster at the top of the hill along with something at the bottom.

A wall.

A wall taller and longer than any that the Fellowship had ever laid eyes upon. Its brick construction was as smooth as freshly laid concrete as it stretched around the edge of the city of Nash. As far as the eye could see there were no doors or gates, absolutely no way to get in. At least not from what they could see. Atop of the wall was the parapet like the walls of a castle and with guards walking back and forth between each turret in the wall. It seemed almost impossible, but why come that far and not put up a fight?

"Is there a way around it?" Chibodee asked

Trowa shook his head, "That could probably take days and we won't find a thing."

As Johan came up to meet the rest of his friends he had heard the discussion among them. He too looked at the overwhelming size of the wall, looking at it from left to right and just stretching on and on. With the task of trying to get into the city looming over them like a dark cloud, Johan suddenly felt a sharp prick in his mind, much like a severe headache hitting the victim without any kind of warning. Except when it hit Johan he came out of it with some new kind of knowledge. His left hand reached for the sword at his side and all became clear.

"We won't have to go around the wall." Johan said with a great air of confidence in his voice.

"What are you planning, Johan?" Duo asked with that narrow eyed look on his face

"Going through the wall." Johan answered

"With all do respect, Messiour Johan." George approached, "I believe the plan is ludicrous. Even with a beam saber the walls must be twenty or thirty feet thick."

Johan did take in George's concern but it didn't faze him one bit, because he had faith. He believed in that knowing feeling about the sword he was asked to carry to the Dark Tower.

"I know that's what it looks like." Johan half agreed, "But I know that this will work."

"Well," Duo shrugged, "If this is what you plan to do, then I'll be with you on it and I'm sure the rest of us will back you."

Johan looked to the rest of the Fellowship seeing their agreement with Duo's promise to stay at his friends' side through good and bad.

"But what about the guards?" Domon asked

"Leave that problem to me." Gandalf said as he raised his great white staff to the sky. There the clouds grew thick and black just like before when Gandalf used his magic to slay a handful of Techno Wraiths. Gandalf swirled the staff around like a spoon into the depths of a great stew.

The lightning sparked and came down a good distance away from the Fellowship. It struck down atop of the parapet where the stones began to cave in and crumble. With the wall already damaged the guards began to rush to the scene and scramble about trying to fix it as well as find out who did it. As they did the black roads above them cleared and the Fellowship moved ahead to the wall.

As they descended down the hill they kept their watch on the wall to make sure that the guards wouldn't alert the others to their presence. Because God only knew what would happen if they were captured.

Johan was at the front leading the assault upon the wall feeling the weight of the sword growing heavier at his side with each running stride he made. He reached for the hilt of the sword, unsheathed it, and was ready to cut into the wall like a Thanksgiving turkey. He approached the wall as the members of the Fellowship armed themselves to guard their friend and comrade.

With his friends protecting him, Johan held the sword in his hands, and felt possessed as if the sword was guiding him. He plunged the sword into the white brick and mortar. There was absolutely no resistance as the sword sliced its way into the wall up to its hand guard, and with that Johan took the handle and began to cut the whole into the City of Nash.

The blade of the sword made its full circle cut, the circle itself seemed perfect to Johan's eye. In the back of his mind he wondered how it was that a flat blade could cut through solid brick and mortar with no problem and make a nearly perfect circle cut. That was when a memory popped back into his mind, he couldn't' figure out why he thought of it then, but old memories always have a way of creeping back into a persons mind.

It was over fifteen years ago when the first tear appeared and Johan had lost Haruka for the first time. How could he forget something as heart wrenching as that? The whole event was planned by a demon from the Sailor Senshi's universe and the fact that his wife wasn't dead at all, only being held prisoner. He remembered being given a sword much like the one that was he used to cut through that wall. He remembered how he defeated a demon thanks to it, and how he regained his wife because of it.

Johan pulled the sword out of the wall and felt something else within him. He reached out to the piece that was cut as if to give it a push, and the piece was pushed away, sinking into the wall, but Johan had never laid a hand upon it. He soon saw that it wasn't important, the door was open, and he called to his friends.

"Everyone!" He called, "Let's go!"

As soon as he said that he dove straight into the hole just as the guards for the wall came about seeing the intruders.

Everyone dove into that same hole in the wall one right after the other. The members of the Shuffle Alliance, the Preventers, Link the Elvish Warrior, Gandalf the White, and Callina the Songstress.

Yet what they didn't know was that after they had gone through the hole, the wall was…healing itself. The hole that was cut just blended itself into the rest of the wall as if the hole had never happened. Brick, mortar, and whatever was used to smooth its surface all came back and no one on the wall knew what the hell just happened.

000

The City of Nash was named after Sirrus Nash, who was the architect and designer of the city. With the aid and magic of the King of Mydar, the two of them had built the city out of nothingness; the buildings, the underground subways, the stores, the restaurants, and even the cars. By the time that they were finished, the people came in from all around Mydar to the city that the King had christened, "The City of Nash".

The city was like most other cities, at least that's what it became when the Obsessed took over, before the construction of the wall. The City of Nash was a beautiful place, not a single building was old or run down, all of them were shinning as if they were brand new while between the buildings as well as upon the streets were the cars that both drove as well as flew from one place to another. It was truly a great city to live in, and no one had to be rich to live there. It only became a matter of choice to live in the glorious hustle and bustle of the city or live the quiet country life in the towns and villages all over the lands of Mydar.

Until…they came, and the wall of Nash was built, becoming isolated and ruled tyrannically, the buildings became old and run down as the Obsessed had captured their king and stolen all the wealth in Mydar and the City of Nash, making it filthy, dingy, dirty, and as dark as the tower that lied on that island in the middle of the lake.

It was in the darkest corners of Nash that hope would arrive. It was somewhere around the industrial section, the place where things were built, a section of factories. Once they were fully functioning and operational, then they became old and run down. It was in a building that once produced dolls, all kinds of dolls would come off of the assembly line. This was the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory, but then it was shut down when the wall was being built. The workers were forced to work the wall, even the children were forced to work, and work to death, only to be buried in the wall as work continued.

The entire third floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory was once used for office space. Remnants of that old time were still there in its cheap economy style carpet that had turned dusty, moldy, and with pieces of paper scattered everywhere. There was some light that came through the dirty mud covered windows, like sunlight coming through the bright material of an umbrella on a partially cloudy day. The light that was present was only dim and brownish, aside from the few bright beams of light that came through the window frames that had its glass knocked out, probably from kids throwing rocks at the old factory to cure boredom.

The light was soon to change as in the center of the empty office space floor appeared a very bright point of light, like a star in the middle of the room that sent out waves of its brilliance. Then the bright light in the middle of the room grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until it became a perfect hole that floated in the middle of the room. Then like the echo in a tunnel came a flurry of yelling and screaming. The yelling and screaming got closer and closer until out of the hole came all the members of the Fellowship of the Gundam, and they piled up on top of one another like a childish game of dog-pile in front of the hole.

"What the hell just happened?" Duo grunted from within the pile

The first one to get off of the pile was Callina the Songstress who straighten out her clothes.

"I gather that we've must have gone through a tear." She said while the other members of the Fellowship got off of the pile. Especially Gandalf who tried to get up with his old bones working against him, but with a little help from Johan he got back onto his feet, along with all fo the members of the Fellowship.

"If we're gone through a tear" Link the Elvish Warrior had followed the logic aloud, "Then where are we?"

With an explorer's curiosity, Johan, along with the others went to the nearby windows that were cracked, and covered with dirt. The window that Johan came to had the bottom pane broken out and through the opening Johan saw the City of Nash. He remembered the city's skyline from when he was atop of that hill looking in. He saw a cluster of buildings stretching up while around the outer edges the buildings were shorter.

"We're in Nash." He reported to the others.

"But how's that possible?" Sai-Saici asked

"We'll, we've gone through tears before." Quatre pointed out, "Perhaps here in Mydar, tears are more common than anything else."

Johan shook his head, "That's not it at all."

"Then how do you explain it?" Rain asked like a professor demanding a professional answer out of a college student.

Johan reached for his sword, "It was because of this." He said, "This sword created that tear in the wall and brought us here."

"It's just as Lord Hyrule said." Link reiterated, "The sword has a mind of its own."

"And there are other items like it." Argo remembered as well

"And they're coming." Johan said

"What?" Haruka asked

"The others are coming." Johan repeated, a very deep tone was in his voice as if he knew what he was saying was going to happen at any moment.

"What are you saying, dad?" Julia asked very fearful for her father.

"Don't any of you feel that?" He asked the members of the Fellowship

"Feel what?" Chibodee asked

"I sense it too." Gandalf the White confirmed, "Something comes this way."

"So do I" Link confirmed, "I don't like this one bit."

"It's here." Johan thought to himself

He didn't even have to stretch out with any kind of intuition or whatever powers were unwillingly given to him, he simply knew. He turned his head sharply to the end of the room. At the end of the third floor was a door that probably led to an office that was once used by an executive. That door at the end was closed but in the limited light, Johan saw something. At first it was faint but it grew to a light, a halo that shimmered from around the doors edge, until it was as bright as the light around a total eclipse of the sun. By that time, the light was bright enough that it caught everyone's attention and that was when the door opened.

"Come on!" A young voice called out as the door opened fully.

The next instant, whoever was behind that door jumped out, much in the same situation as the Fellowship had done. The few had jumped from behind the door and landed inside the third floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory. Unlike the Fellowship before them, the ones who came through the eclipse-like door simply rolled onto the floor instead of piling up upon one another. Then just as the last of them came through the door behind them slammed shut as if it was to close automatically.

"Ah." One of them exhaled, "We're safe."

To the members of Preventer, that voice was very familiar. Yet, the memories were so far away that a small refresher was needed. Some of the Preventer officers came closer to the ones who had just arrived in the City of Nash. They couldn't' tell who they were since they were in fact lying on the floor.

As the Preventer came closer, and the Shuffle Alliance along with Gandalf and Callina stayed behind, the memories became a little clearer.

"Hello?" Quatre called out

"Whose there?" A stern voice asked as once of the few from the eclipse-door arose and drew his gun. In the muddy light that came into the room, they saw the silvery gun. The memories were like links in a chain, one already led into another and that was evident for Duo because it was there that he received his weapon, the Cross-Punisher.

"Vash?" He asked

On the other side, the Peace Guns, the Kenshin-gumi, along with their guides Loki the Warrior, Bartleby the Spy, and Jake the Key Master slowly got up after their small exit from Blaine the Mono. Then to hear that voice called out Vash's name, they wondered who knew them, in that place (wherever it was to them).

Vash recognized faintly who it was, yet the person standing in front of him and who called out his named, seemed very different than the person that was in the back of his memory. Vash had this happen to him several times where he met someone again and time had done its work upon them. That is what happened to the man that was in front of him as well as the others around him and that caused him to lower his gun.

"Duo?" Vash asked, "Johan? Heero? Quatre?" He blinked twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, "What happened to all of you?"

"Well," Johan smiled, "the last time we saw you it was over fifteen years ago."

"But to us," Kenshin stepped in, "it wasn't all that long ago."

"Very true." Quatre smiled, "But it's wonderful to see all of you."

"Likewise." Wolfwood replied

"I take it, all of you know each other." Bartleby said addressing the reunion of the Preventers with the Kenshin-Gumi and the Peace Guns.

"Now, there's a voice that I haven't heard in a long time." Callina smiled as she approached the other guards.

"Callina?" Loki asked very surprised, "Oh, no way! We haven't seen you in such a long time! And what's with the lumberjack clothes?"

"Long story." Callina shook her head, "The same with Gandalf."

"Gandalf the Gray is here?" Jake asked excited about the prospects of the news.

"Formerly, Gandalf the Gray." An old voice called as it approached Jake, Bartleby, Loki, and Callina, "Now that Wizard is Gandalf the White."

"Woah…" Bartleby whispered in awe of Gandalf's change, "What happened to you?"

"That's a long story as well." Gandalf said to his comrades.

"Hey, can anyone tell us where we are?" Sano asked very annoyed about the situation

"We're in the City of Nash." Domon Kasshu answered

"And who are you?"

"Don't worry, Sano." Quatre said, "They're all with us, they helped us once before."

"You mean they crossed into your world?"

Quatre shook his head, "Not exactly."

"Well, first think I think we should do is eating." Vash suggested

"Couldn't agree more, mister." Sai-Saici smiled

Yet, as the new company of friends was about to settle into their new surroundings and hopefully unpack some food, there was a great noise outside. It just came out of nowhere and each sound compounded upon another like falling dominos. At first, it was a screeching sound like a set of tires, but it didn't sound like it belonged to one car.

There were two very distinct engine sounds to those who knew the most about such things it sounded like two different cars, or maybe one car and another with a larger engine. After hearing the screeching tires and the two very different engines there was a great crash. The sound reached up to the third floor and all the members of the new company of friends dashed to the windows to find what it was that caused that calamity. Looking out the windows, some of them found nothing, while a few saw two vehicles, a bus and a stretched white limousine.

"Is it, the Obsessed?" Jake asked

"Couldn't be." Loki answered, "they can't find us this quick."

As Johan looked he felt that same stirring within him. The same way he felt when that eclipse-door opened. It was a kind of resonance, like he was attune to some kind of frequency like a radio that picked up these disturbances. He squinted through the dirt that had built-up on the windows and he knew that he had to go down there.

He looked sharply around the room looking for another door that would lead the way out. He then saw a door with a symbol next to it, no matter what universe he was in, certain things were true everywhere. He saw a symbol of a man walking down a set of stairs.

Johan dashed to the door.

"Where are you going?" Haruka asked

"I'm going down to meet them." He answered with the door halfway open and his foot already out.

"How do you know they're not with the Obsessed?" Chibodee asked

"I just know." Johan answered as he dashed out the door and down the stairs to the new visitors. While behind him a member of the Fellowship had a minor breakthrough.

Kaworu Nagisa felt that prick in his mind, even though he didn't know that Johan was feeling the same thing, he felt that familiar presence somewhere near him. He had felt it ever since he came to Mydar and it just kept growing stronger the closer he got to that city called Nash.

"Must be from that bus." Kaworu thought, "Has to be." He thought this as Johan Rodriguez of Preventer and the Fellowship of the Gundam rushed down the stairs and to whoever was outside.

000

Outside, near the loading dock of the abandoned Happy-Go-Lucky dolly factory, the bus carrying the Evangelions and the Sailor Senshi crashed into the dock with the white stretched limo that carried the Outlaw Six & the Lupin Crew. On both sides everyone was coming to grips with what happened, after all both had sped up and gone through a wall without crashing that was until they came to the loading dock. Instinctively, both drivers got out trying to assess the damage, but then both of them caught a glimpse of one another and the situation had changed dramatically.

Draco looked across at the stretched limo and the man who got out of it from the drivers side and he couldn't help but smile.

"It really has been a while." Draco said as he approached his old comrade

"So it has." Armand smiled back.

Then instantly just like brothers, the two of them hugged, while their passengers got out of their vehicles to see what was happening. At first both sides were confused at what they were witnessing, but there were a few on Armand's side who knew what was going on.

As Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins got out of the stretched limo, they looked in the direction of Armand. The man that he was hugging like a brother both of them recognized and immediately answered the most obvious question.

"Who the hell is that?" Gene Starwind asked who sounded very annoyed

Rally quickly answered, "That's one of the other Seven Guards to the One True King of Mydar, Draco the Beast Master."

"But who are the others?" Lupin asked

"I don't know."

As both sides stood looking at one another in a kind of stand off, a voice called out to them.

"You're all here!"

Everyone in the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, The Sailor Senshi, the Evangelions, the Gunsmith Cats, as well as the two guards looked and saw someone familiar to them.

"Well, well, well." Lupin smiled, "If it isn't Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez of Preventer."

To be continued…


	20. The Dark Tower

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 20: The ****Dark********Tower******

000

The freedom of Mydar was at hand. In the old building that was called the Happy-Go-Lucky Doll factory, a great group of friends had met on its third floor. The first was the Fellowship of the Gundam, which consisted of the Preventers, the Shuffle Alliance, Link the Elvish Warrior, and the two guards to the One True King of Mydar, Gandalf the White and Callina the Songstress. This group met up with the Kenshin-Gumi, the Peace Guns, and the other guards to the king, Loki the Warrior, Bartleby the Spy, and Jake Chambers the Key Master. But the party was not complete.

The final two groups had arrived outside the Happy-Go-Lucky Doll factory. There was the Sailor Senshi along with the Evangelions, and their guide Draco the Beast Master who arrived in a large yellow bus. Then there was the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, and their guide Armand the Weapon Smith with his students Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins (The Gunsmith Cats) who came in their stolen stretched limo. With Johan coming down to greet them, the party was complete. He brought both groups up to the third floor of the doll factory where a great reunion had taken place.

Of course, the Preventers knew the members of both of these groups that Johan brought up, but there were some new ones to meet, such as the remaining two guards. With Draco and Armand there, it completed the Seven Guards to the One True King of Mydar. The meeting was well underway like a great A-list Hollywood party, with a fire being started using some wood from old creates, and a little fire magic from Rei (Sailor Mars).

There was also a very shocked and tearful reunion. It was when the Evangelions, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langely Sohryuu, and Misato Katsuragi saw the very familiar boy amongst the Gundams. For Shinji, all the dots were connected; he knew that it was him that sent out that feeling of familiarity across all those miles. Needless to say there were all thunderstruck because the last time that they saw Kaworu Nagisa, he was an angel, but that didn't matter to Shinji. He approached Kaworu with sadness and hope in his heart that he would forgive and be happy to see Shinji again.

"Kaworu?" Shinji called

Kaworu Nagisa of the Fellowship turned and the dots connected together for him as well. He remembered everything, that time that he and Shinji spent together even that one terrible night when Shinji made the choice that placed that final crack in his mind.

"Shinji?" Kaworu asked.

The tears welted up in Shinji's eyes and he threw his arms around Kaworu softly sobbing, his tears dripping from his face and onto his shirt. He never felt so blissfully happy in his own little life.

"Kaworu." Shinji sobbed, "I'm…"

"Don't say a word, my old friend." Kaworu hugged back, "I was right in that you were not the existence that should die."

After both happy and tearful reunions, all of the groups who traveled across the great lands of Mydar began to share stories. Those long stories that the members of this new company were talking about when asked short but complicated questions. It was almost like a summer camp in how the stories were shared and exchanged. There were stories of their own lives, their triumphs, their sorrows, and even their adventures across Mydar itself.

As the stories continued it came to the discussion of the issue of their powers. Everyone there knew it and felt it; these powers had manifested themselves in several ways and in several people. They wanted to know why this was and as a couple of the guards explained, Gandalf and Loki, that there was a force in the world of Mydar and those who were sensitive enough to it would be given special powers by it. This explained the situation of the Senshi as well as the Evangelions.

After that they came to some of the lighter stories of their travels.

"So," Kenshin finished, "We found out that their weakness was the word, _it_, and that's how we got away."

With a great laugh all around, the group all around, the group felt collectively that it was time to get back to the problem at hand. It was the wise old Gandalf who brought this up, but he had to try to break into this slowly.

"It truly is wonderful to see everyone back together again." He started as he took one more drag out of his long wooden pipe, "But there is a serious matter at hand."

"The Dark Tower." Kenshin confirmed.

"Exactly." Gandalf pointed his long old finger to Kenshin Himura. "This was no accident that all of us came to this one spot. I speak of course of how we all entered the city of Nash without encountering any resistance."

"It was the items." Jake spoke up as he took the key out of his bag, "With this key I and those who were with me walked across miles of space is if we were crossing a room."

"It wasn't just the items by themselves." Johan stated, "It was as if…"

Johan struggled to find the right words to translate what he was feeling to a way that everyone could understand.

"They were calling to each other." Fujiko filled in the gaps for Johan's explanation.

"That's it exactly." Johan confirmed, "The items were calling to each other, which is why we all ended up here in this old doll factory."

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Gene Starwind asked

"Someone has to take all these items to the Dark Tower itself." Bartleby explained.

"But these items have already done so much for us." Chibodee pointed out, "Why not use them as weapons against the Obsessed?"

"That's something we shouldn't do." Minako Aino countered with Chibodee Crocket, "The items have minds of their own and they only wish to return to their master."

"That's a lot of compassion for inanimate objects, isn't it?"

"But Minako is right." Link inputted, "They have to be returned."

"From what we've heard about the Dark Tower," Trowa said, "it is guarded by more than just the Obsessed. The land that was once beautiful is now filled with fire and ash, and the Eye of the Hawk is always watching. From the sound of it, it's almost suicidal to take on."

"As I recall." Domon pitched in, "We've all taken on tasks that were just as suicidal, but the fact remains that someone must take them there."

"You did leave something out." Wolfwood said sharply, "As we all have heard the story, the king split his power into seven items, and from what I've heard, we only have five."

With this point brought up, the members of the new company tried to count up the number of items that they each had heard about. Gandalf already knew this;

"Yes." He said, and then he called to those who had them, "Please everyone that has the items place them near the fire."

First was Jake who brought out the key that he had carved out of the branch of an old Ash tree in the Dark Forest of Ewin. Then there was Fujiko who set the cup that she got out of an old antique store in Derry. Next was Melphina who took off that watch she purchased in a clock shop in the town of Boulder. Minako Aino was the second to last, who set down the golden ring that she had found (as if by good luck) in that dark cave. Last of all was Johan who set down the sword that he volunteered to take to the Dark Tower. The items were placed around the fire as if they were offerings in a tribal ritual.

"There are only five." Wolfwood repeated, "So, where are the other two?"

"I think I know where they are." Johan stated and before anyone could ask where, he then said, "Both are at the tower. So, if someone does take the items to the tower, that person would have to find the last two items."

"The question now is…" Goemon proposed

"Who will do this task?" Sazuka finished

The company of friends was silent for a moment, each member looking at each other wondering who among them would be the one to take on such a task. Especially considering the unknown dangers that lie ahead, even though every one of them had faced dangers before, everyone had already drawn their conclusions in one way or another of who should do this great task.

Even the perfect Soldier knew this; Heero Yuy raised his hand and gently brought it in a friendly slap on Johan's shoulder. He had already commanded Johan's attention.

"I think this task should be yours." He said to Johan still keeping that signature neutral look on his face.

Johan looked into Heero's cobalt blue eyes and felt that perhaps this task should not only have him take the sword but perhaps all the items to the Dark Tower. He looked at the other members of the company for a second, third, and God knows what other numbered opinion, and that's just what he got.

"I think so too." Duo said, "You've come this far."

"Exactly." Vash agreed, "And you do seem to know more about what's going on around here than the rest of us."

On one level, Johan felt as if they wanted him to take on the rest of the quest because no one else had the guts to do it. Then he thought that they were all his friends and they wouldn't wish such a cruel thing upon him. Then he thought about the alternative, if someone else went, and that was something he certainly didn't want. He thought about the questions, the ones that he had when he held that pink jewel called the Wizard's Glass that showed him all the lands of Mydar. Suddenly he thought that it had become personal for him. He looked from the fire that blazed in the center of the circle of friends, to the members of this new company.

"I'll do it." He said with a new found confidence, "But there is something I think we need."

"What's that, Messiour Johan?" George DeSand asked

"I believe we need a new name for our group."

"What do you mean?" Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus) asked wondering where the Gundam pilots logic was going.

"Well," Johan explained, "The Preventers, the Preventer Teens, and the Shuffle Alliance, we've called ourselves the Fellowship of the Gundam."

"I get what you mean." Lupin nodded, "You mean we need a name that includes us all, right?"

"That's right." Johan answered, "And I believe the most appropriate name for us all; the Sailor Senshi, the Evangelions, the Peace Guns, the Kenshin-Gumi, the Outlaw Six, the Lupin Crew, the Preventers, the Shuffle Alliance, the Preventers Teens, and the Seven Gaurds."

Johan spoke with the voracity of a preacher filled with the goodness of the human soul, spreading words of how and not of hell, fire, and damnation for everyone around him. He paused for a moment as whatever kind of spirit he was feeling washed over him and the idea broke through into words.

"We," He began, "We shall be called, The Fellowship of the One."

"The Fellowship of the One?" Sanosuke asked, "Doesn't that seem a tad bit weird to anyone else here?"

"I kinda like it." Gene Starwind said with raised eyebrows

"Me too." Asia Clan-clan added, "Very strong, proud, and unifying, just like the invincible Ctarl-ctarl."

"Yup." Vash agreed, "I like it as well.

"What does 'the One' mean?" Usagi (Sailor Moon) asked

"We are all unified for the One True King." Johan explained, he then chucked, "If we all had glasses, I would propose a toast to the Fellowship and to the Freedom of Mydar."

"To the Fellowship." Everyone said in unison as they slowly raised their fists to the air

"But there is another issue at hand." Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) brought up, "How to get Johan to the tower. No doubt if this city is so close, the Obsessed are probably everywhere."

Bartleby nodded, "She's right, this isn't exactly a city you can sneak through."

"So what's needed is a distraction." Misato Katsuragi figured

"That's the most logical thing to do." Armand agreed, "But there's another problem."

"The Eye of the Hawk." Gandalf uttered

"What's that?" Jim Hawking asked

"Within the Dark Tower," Gandalf explained, "The Lord of the Obsessed sees all in Mydar, his gaze pierces through Earth, steel, stone, shadow, cloud, and flesh. He has in his possession a great eye that never blinks and burns with his malice and cruelty."

"…shit…" Gene Starwind uttered, "I'd hate to meet him."

"There is a way to blind him." Quatre said as he rummaged through the knapsacks that they had filled with supplies, and the gift that the Elvish Princess Zelda gave to him. He brought it out and showed it to everyone in the Fellowship of the One like a child at show-n-tell. They all gazed in such amazement at Quatre's gift.

"The Shield of Saturn." Quatre announced his gifts name

"Nice piece of work." Lupin cupped his chin thinking about how much an object like it would go for with its all gold structure and speckled with rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and opals.

"It's not just a nice piece of work." Quatre corrected the thief, "It's crafted by the Elves, the Princess told me that it can ward off any dark magic spell. I believe we can use this when we implement our plan."

"In that case," Loki changed the subject, "The next thing to plan is the distraction."

"It's my turn!" Minnie-may smiled, "I'll make a pretty big bomb that should get everyone's attention, I'm sure Armand has the materials."

"Always." Armand smiled as he opened up his guitar case and brought out the right supplies, plastic explosives, triggering pins, detonation devices, and other supplies needed.

"Now that we have a plan in place." Johan said, "The next thing to do is strike, but I believe we should avoid killing any innocent people."

"Agreed." May said as she worked with Armand on building the bomb

"But you will need more." Armand said as he handed over his guitar case to Johan. As the Gundam pilot took it he felt the heaviness of it with all the guns and knives in it.

"That's very generous, Armand." Johan smiled, "But I am well armed."

Armand shook his head, "No, you will need this when you reach the tower."

"Thank you, everyone." Johan said with the greatest of sincerity and gratitude.

000

The bomb was completed and Gandalf addressed all of the Fellowship to the unspoken tensions that they all were facing.

"I know that many of you must be afraid of what will happen." He began, "But I do know this much that in order to face anything we must cast aside our fear of it."

Leto Rodriguez agreed, "We must face our fear and let it pass through us."

"Yes, I say that tonight we celebrate. We shall celebrate in being here. We shall celebrate that we are all together and united in one cause. We shall celebrate to send a message to the Obsessed. We are the Fellowship of the One, and we shall not be afraid!"

All of the Fellowship cheered in Gandalf's speech and Armand pulled out a small stereo that began to play such music with such great beats that all of the Fellowship began to dance in celebration. They danced around the fire that burned in its orange brilliance while the sun had already set beyond the west and the night sky had unfurled its scattering of the stars. The plans for the distraction were already finished. It was simply a matter of implementing them at the right time, which would allow Johan to dash through the city, cross the lake, and reach the Dark Tower. It did seem easy from the sidelines, but Johan was already feeling the burden as he sat alone in the corner office at the end of the third floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky factory. He said to those who asked that he needed to be alone for a while.

Then again, who could blame them? With such a task ahead, who wouldn't want to be alone? Most of all Johan wondered if this was one mission that he would back from. Thinking about it like that suddenly made him feel very cold.

As Johan sat alone, the door opened and in walked his wife Haruka who had a small pillow and a blanket that Draco had in his bus. As Draco told Haruka when she asked if he had any, he told her that his passengers needed them compared to the grueling seats.

The beat of the music progressed outside the office and was muffled when Haruka closed the door behind her.

"Thought you might need this." Haruka hinted at the pillow and blanket.

Johan smiled, "You read my mind."

Haruka laid the pillow on the floor as she spread out the blanket on the office floor as if she and her husband were off somewhere else on a picnic. Though Johan knew that his wife was up to something after she laid the blanket down, she went over to the door and pushed in the lock. She then came over to the blanket and laid down upon it. Then in a playboy model-like way, she sat up and patted the empty space next to her, inviting her husband to her.

Johan smiled and took off his long white coat. He placed it into a small pile next to himself, as he got up he also took off his gun belts and holsters from his waist, his shoulders, and his back. With all his weapons off and to the side he came over to his wife. After he laid down on the blanketed floor next to her he simply looked at her. Every inch of her body and her face that never seemed to stop smiling at him. He leaned over and kissed her upon the lips and the two lovers embraced one another.

With the beat of the music going on outside the office, the Fellowship of the One danced in their celebration. It was that with each beat a piece of Haruka or Johan's clothing came off and they shared in the act of love like they have done so many, many times in the past. Yet, both felt so much more that time as they sweated and rolled from side to side in their carnal dance. Both felt it but never said a word about it that it may be their last time together. With that implicit thought rolling around in their minds they made love to the beat of the music like never before.

Then at last they could do no more and simply slept by each others side as the sweat rolled off of their bodies and the night progressed on. Johan loved his wife, his children, and his friends. He prayed as his wife fell asleep that he would come back alive to her, but he couldn't help but remember that card in Zelda's tarot reading: Death.

"Be not afraid, Gundam pilot." Zelda had told him, "For this shall not be the death of you or anyone close to you. This will be a transformation and a rebirth. You shall be changed forever."

There were so many questions that Johan had and they all had to be there in the tower. That much he was certain of as he fell asleep with his loving wife at his side.

000

The time for the plan was ready to be implemented. Armand, the Gunsmith cats, and Quatre Raberba Winner had chosen an abandoned building on the west side of the City of Nash, while the rest of the Fellowship stayed behind at the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory.

Johan stood at the foot of the docking bay looking to the west waiting for the some sign. At his side waiting were his wife, his children, as well as the others in the Fellowship. They stood by him like people wishing a ship and its passengers a good journey on its maiden voyage. Johan felt up to the cold chain around his neck that held the ring, the steel of the watch around his wrist, and the guitar case that had the cup, the sword, the key, and the guns that Armand gave to him. His heart raced as he waited for the sign.

Suddenly, there was a great boom and the ground shook beneath the Fellowships feet as they saw black smoke rising over the buildings like a fire in a forest. That was the signal and it was certain that Quatre was using the shield. Johan raised both hands, his left wrist and his right hand which extended his right index finger to the button that Melphina said to stop time.

He took one last look and his friends and family as he pushed the button. All around Johan there was a bright flash like the flash from a camera. As soon as the after images in his eyes cleared, Johan could see what Melphina was talking about. At first it looked as though his family and friends were standing still, then he looked to the smoke in the west. Frozen, never moving or changing a single inch, it was incredible in viewing it all, and so he set out on the journey, the last leg of the quest to the Dark Tower. He took to the streets and drove one of the flying cars thanks to Jake providing the key to get in.

Everywhere Johan looked, all was frozen in place. The cars that were in mid-air and mid-traffic, the water frozen as it sprayed from fountains, and the people like plastic statues in department stores. The feeling was just eerie as if he were the last person alive. That in itself was frightening, to be the only one left while everyone else was dead, just like in that old book Johan read called, "The Stand", where a great number of people died of a super-flu called Captain Tripps. He took his mind off of that and continued to drive.

The car seemed to handle very easily like a combination of a car and a plane. Even though it seemed like time had stopped all around him, he tried to take it slow, so that he could find his way to the tower. He eventually climbed to the highest lane like a bird ascending to the tree tops. All around him he saw the tops of the skyscrapers and his own prize, the Dark Tower in the distance.

Looking at the lake where the island of the Dark Tower stood, Johan wondered how the hover car would work over the water. Then he thought that if it didn't then the alternative would have been to walk across the lake. He thought to himself that with what was going on in the effect that the watch was having he could probably stand on the water.

At last he crossed over the wall of the city and coming to the edge of the lake he decided to just fly the rest of the way. Then as he crossed the threshold of the lake and to his surprise, nothing happened. He simply continued onward to the Dark Tower. Though he kept looking into the rear view mirror back at the city and wondered if everyone would be alright, but then he brought his attention back to the Dark Tower ahead.

000

The time came when Johan brought down the hover car to the edge of the island where the Dark Tower stood. The bottom of the hover car scuffed on the sands of the island as it came to a complete stop. As soon as he landed, Johan took the guitar case that had Armand's guns and the items. In coming out of the car with the guitar case in his hand, Johan was able to look up and take in the incredible enormity of the Dark Tower.

Everything that the Fellowship had heard about that place was true. A land that was once beautiful was just an island littered with ash and dust. The sky above the tower was just like what he had seen in his dreams. The gray clouds were swirling around the tower as if it were a spoon swirling cream into coffee.

Johan reached up and pressed the button on the watch and all time returned to normal. He looked behind him to the waves that lapped up against the shores of the island. He saw how murky, ink-stained, and putrid the lake was, as if it was like mile that had soured. He looked across the sour lake and back to the City of Nash where the black smoke was still billowing from its west side.

"Good luck, my friends and loved ones." Johan whispered as he turned back to the tower and made his trek. He noticed how the island seemed to slope upward as Johan made the steps to the tower. He would occasionally stop to look around until it got to a point where he could see that the top of the island was quite higher in elevation to the surface of the lake. After looking around he headed onward, but as he walked on and the ground underneath him leveled, he suddenly felt very nervous. It was just suspicious that if the Obsessed were everywhere in the City and the City was walled off then what about the security of the tower?

His answer came when there was a great crunch underneath his foot. He lifted it and looked at it. It was long, thing, and a white-gray color. He bent down and pulled whatever he stepped on out of the ash. As it came out, Johan began to get a very good idea of what it was. He just had to see the rest of it to confirm his suspicion, and the rest of the thing came out of the ash. Johan held it and he saw the head of it as it came to a ball. It was a bone, a human femur, otherwise known as the thigh bone. He dropped it back into the ash and dust wishing not to contemplate what happened to the poor devil underneath his feet.

Continuing upon his trek, Johan came to the doors of the Dark Tower. They were massive, nothing else that Johan had seen was of such great size. It looked like two mobile suits could get through the doors side by side as well as two suits vertically. Standing there, Johan felt very, very small, but he was over took by wonderment as he saw rose bushes surrounding the gate in such a way that they looked like they were giving a path feeling up to the doors, a set of bushes on either side. All of them blooming despite the dreary and desolate settings that they were in but then panic over took Johan as he saw what was guarding the doors of the Dark Tower.

Johan saw a beast lying at the foot of the doors. The panic was so much that his mind didn't comprehend what he was seeing until he saw that it wasn't moving. His gazed looked closer at the odd looking creature and he realized exactly what it was. He remembered back to when he was younger and his dad told him an old story from Greek mythology about the hero Hercules, in one of the stories, Hercules was said to face a beast called a Hydra. There was even one incident when Johan and the rest of the Preventers first met the Shuffle Alliance. It was during the Gundam Fight Battle Royal and they faced a hideous mobile suit called the Gundam Hydra. That was the very creature that slept at the doors of the Dark Tower, but Johan had the very distinct feeling that the beast would wake up soon. He turned around and tried to sneak off in order to plan. He brought each foot down into the ash and dust carefully hoping that no sound would be made.

CRACK!

His foot stepped on something.

Johan looked down and then looked back at the Hydra, who had awakened. Its thick body was brought up upon its two legs and it swished its forked tail behind itself as its nine heads began to slither and look at the intruder. Each head had a pair of yellow lizard-like eyes, every mouth rasping like any other snake, but it echoed through each of the nine heads like an insidious chorus line. As the Hydra was up upon its two legs and its heads already up and moving, it began to move down the ash covered path towards Johan.

The Gundam pilot felt frozen in his tracks. How much security there was in being in a mobile suit, giving such power to its user and yet outside of it, faced with such fearsome enemies one can feel like a child in a nightmare.

Johan watched as a few of the mouths began to burn as if they were being filled with fire. He looked around and found a large boulder at the edge of the rose bed, with that in sight, he dashed for it as the flames of the Hydra came at him like a man armed with a flame thrower. He crouched harder with the guitar case underneath him as the flames began to die down while a few of the rose bushes caught fire. As Johan heard the fearsome steps of the Hydra coming closer, he suddenly felt that tickle again.

He opened his eyes and looked down at the ground where the boulder met the rose bed, like the sea meeting the shore. There standing upon its own, was a rose. A singular white rose, no bush or branches in sight of it. It grew there like any other flower. It seemed beautiful. The only other word that Johan could think of to describe the beauty of the rose he saw there was….perfect. It had no wilts, molds, or any kind of bugs on it. It seemed so perfect that it almost bordered upon being artificial.

With the Hydra inching its way towards its prey, Johan inched his way to the rose. As he did it felt like there were voices in his head, singing voices. The kind that sing of such joy in the world and beauty in the universe, almost like an ode to joy, and in coming closer and closer to it reaching his hand out, Johan knew that this was it. This was one of the seven items. He wanted to be very careful in pulling it out, but that was when he noticed that there were no roses upon its stem, none whatsoever.

Johan reached, held the rose by its stem and pulled it out of the ground with the sounds of the chorus in his head becoming louder as if he was standing in front of them. Holding the rose, he no longer felt afraid that everything seemed clear again, as if fear was just a dark cloud in his vision. He set the rose upon the guitar case and reached for his favorite weapon, his beam saber. As he held the weapon to his chest, he stretched out with his feelings and in his minds eye he could see the Hydra with its heads still trying to find him. That was when he had the idea, he reached up to the ring around his neck, and he took it off of the chain and slipped it onto his left hand butting up against his own wedding band.

He got up to his feet and went out to face the Hydra once again, but as he came out he immediately noticed that the Hydra couldn't see him. He approached it keeping in mind that the creature couldn't see him. He knew that he couldn't cut off its head, because two heads would sprout from the wound that much he remembered from the story and from experience with the Gundam Hydra. Thinking strategically, Johan decided not to activate his beam saber just yet and he decided to allow the Hydra to come to him.

The Hydra kept moving sluggishly forward dragging its huge body on its two legs as all nine heads kept looking for its prey. It was lucky that the Hydra wasn't a real thinking beast like the Dragons of Mydar that Draco the Beast Master had talked about. After all, that's the only thing worse than a killing machine and that's a killing machine with a brain. That's what the Hydra would be if it even had a little bit of thinking about amongst its nine heads. If it did, it would have found out that it was walking into a trap.

The invisible Johan waited and he saw that he was within stabbing distance of the Hydra's heart. He saw the opportunity and seized it, with the beam saber in his hand, he activated it. The Hydra with its limited mind only saw something floating in the air, its first response with its reptilian brain was to kill it, but it was too late. The blade of the saber had already pierced through its heart. As it began to die, one of the heads looked down at the thing sticking in its chest and it brought down its jaws to the thing in its chest.

Johan felt the poisonous fangs of the Hydra sink into his hand and his arm. He didn't feel anything at first but the pain set in as the poison seeped into his body. The jaws of the Hydra began to loosen but the damage had already been done. Johan cradled his right arm as it loosely let go of the beam saber.

The Hydra had fallen into the ash and dust, but Johan was feeling the poison going to work on his central nervous system and he felt numb everywhere.

"No." He growled to himself, "I cannot die here, not when I'm so close."

He felt his eyes close as he tried to think of a way out of it.

"The cup." He thought to himself, "The cup Fujiko had."

In the guitar case, that's where it was.

Johan crawled on his knees and one hand, cradling the other, but while he was opening the guitar case he thought about what he could use to drink from it. Through his blurred vision he looked at the lake around him. Sure, the thought that the lake must be putrid but the options were running low.

He had the cup in his hands and he decided not to crawl. Instead he rolled down the hill on his side like a child playing in some countryside, until he splashed at the waters edge. By that time the venom of the Hydra was starting to work on his respiratory system, time was running out. Gasping for breath, he took the wooden cup and dipped it into the murky water. Through his darkening and blurrier vision he watched the murky water turn crystal clear. He then poured the water over the wounds in his hand and arm. Wasting no time he drank the water until there was none left. After gulping down the last of it, he fell over into the sand, his face continually splashed by the incoming tide.

Lying there, he kept thinking that he didn't want to die, because there was so much he needed and wanted to do. He wanted those questions of his answered, which was the first of them, but wanted more. He wanted to see his children grow and succeed, like any father would. Then he came back to the present and thought that if he died there on the sands, he would never see any of them again. And if they got back they would have a memorial service for him and a tombstone on his home colony that would read:

_Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez_

_Code Name: Star Dragon_

_Caring Father, Loving Husband, and Excellent Gundam Pilot_

_Died in the Line of Duty_

_He will be greatly missed._

Again, Johan wanted to live, if only for his friends and family he wanted to live. Just as he made his own silent cry to live again, he slowly felt himself come back, like his body remained and his spirit left and it was coming back. He felt the cold water washing up against his face, sending that putrid taste down his mouth and into his nose. He got up and coughed and blew out the water that the waves lapped in.

He was already feeling better, he reached down and pulled off the ring as he looked at his arm and hand for any left over signs of the Hydra's assault on him. There was nothing, no wounds, no teeth marks, no blood stains, nothing. For a moment Johan felt such joy that he was going to live, he took the wooden cup in his hand and kiss its side, thanking it for brining him back to life.

Setting aside the joy, Johan got back to his feet and back to the guitar case behind that rock, where the guns and the other items were, including the newly found rose. He went through a small inventory in his mind of what was there.

"Ok." He thought, "I have the sword, the cup, the key, the watch, the rose and the ring."

He gathered them all up back into the guitar case. Except for the ring that he put back on the chair around his neck, the watch on his wrist, and the rose that he kept in his hand. Gathering up the guitar case, Johan went to the very deceased body of the Hydra. There to his disappointment, his favorite weapon, the beam saber laid melting and disintegrating in the pool of the Hydra's blood.

"Damn it." Johan shook his head, but then thought that there was no use in crying over spilt milk as the old saying went. With that in mind he walked up to the enormous doors of the Dark Tower. There he noticed something; there was a door within the doors, one that seemed to be built for a person to go through. Thinking back to the experience with the Hydra, Johan didn't want to take any chances, so he took the ring off of the chain and slipped it on again. He reached out for the black door knob and found that it didn't turn.

"Locked." He thought, but then he went back to the guitar case for the key that Jake carved. In inserted it into the key hole and turned it, and to no surprise, the door opened, and Johan walked through.

000

The magic ring kept Johan invisible as he stepped over the threshold into the Dark Tower. Inside was as dark and black as the outside. Everywhere he looked there was not an ounce of color aside from the light that leaked in and the torches that light the way. The place was downright spooky, almost like a haunted house itself, except this wasn't one that he could back out of.

All around him Johan saw that the room was both immense and circular. As he slowly took his step forward he saw a great ramp of to his right that curved upward. He followed the line of the curving ramp and saw that it spiraled. It was going up around the walls of the tower. Looking up, Johan was reminded of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, how the great dome in the center was so high that one would have to lean against a solid wall to keep from spinning and knocking an unsuspecting tourist over. That's what he felt as the corkscrew ramp went up and up through the floors of the Dark Tower to where the lights intersected one another like strands in a spiders web.

Bringing his mind back to the ground, Johan tried to reach out with his intuition once again like he did with the Hydra. The feeling that was pulling him to that place felt so potent that it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Though one thing was for sure, he had reached his goal. It was just a little further before the quest is all over.

He took to the spiral ramp and took the walk upward. Yet, as he walked upward, he heard a great echo of shouting. Shortly following there was a stampede of footsteps that were like thunderclaps of a rolling storm. Johan didn't want to do anything stupid and get trampled or worse…caught. He looked left and right, there he found a large statue of a horned and winged demon. Dashing behind it, he waited for the thunderstorm of footsteps to pass over him. He still tried to remind himself that he was invisible but he wasn't going to take any chances.

"The City of Nash is being attacked!" Someone shouted

"Surround the Dark Tower! Keep the interlopers out!" Another voice commanded

Peeking from behind the wings of the stone demon, Johan watched as the Obsessed ran by. They all dashed by one after the other like a mob of people being let into a concert, but its what Johan saw that scared him. The faces of the Obsessed ran from very human to the most bizarre of creatures. Some had multiple red eyes and tentacles for hair, while others seemed reptilian in nature, faces like lizards, tongues like snakes, and eyes that had black slits like many other creatures of that type. Then there were some that were machines, some of them totally machine while others were machines underneath flesh that was peeled away like bad wrapping on a gift. IT was just a melting pot of men, women, creatures, and machines. All of them stampeding to the gates until the great doors opened and a robotic voice called out:

"Someone has slain the Hydra! Half of you head to the City of Nash and the rest of you search the Dark Tower for any intruders. Our lord may have lost the sight of the eye but we won't let that stop us! Now go!"

Then just like a thunderstorm rolling off to the distant horizon, Johan felt relieved but was more cautious knowing that the Obsessed were looking for him. Being careful, he peeked from behind the demons wings and saw several of those creatures coming up the spiral ramp. He waited as they passed, then he gathered up the guitar case and headed up the spiral ramp.

In going up he did feel that sharp tickle growing more potent with each step, similar to approaching a hot fire on a cold night. In a way, he was dangerously multitasking, keeping all his senses open for two things, the source of that tickle in his mind and for the Obsessed. He found himself always looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was catching on. That was when he had to remind himself that again he was invisible. Pretty ironic in a way, that he had the power of invisibility and was still worried about being caught, but then again, because one is invisible doesn't mean they're invulnerable to being caught.

Up and up the spiral ramp went like some kind of mad corkscrew. Going up the ramp Johan saw doors on his right side, every one of them seemed very evenly spaces almost like windows on a sky scraper. The curiosity in Johan wanted to know what was behind the doors, but his rational thought said to keep moving.

Ever since he stepped inside the tower, Johan felt that he had lost all concept of time, that he didn't know or have any idea or how long he'd been in the tower or how far he's gong up. Until, he decided to break the implicit silent rule of "never look down". He came to the rail of the spiral ramp and looked down, and with just one look he felt a small case of vertigo coming over him. Even though he was never afraid of heights, but looking down seeing the spiral ramp curve its way down to the bottom floor did send that jolt through him. Stepping away from the rail, Johan continued his journey up the ramp and along the way he was thinking to himself that he was glad that they weren't stairs, or he would have been severely worn out.

Still, he had no idea how long he had been inside the tower, of course he could have just looked at the watch but that would have served no good. For a good reason, because he didn't know what time he arrived, how long the battle with the Hydra was, how long the battle with the Hydra was, how long he was lying on that beach with the poison killing him, and how long he was climbing up the spiral ramp. So what could he do? Just keep going up the ramp, but he couldn't.

It was that feeling, that magnetic pull that he'd been feeling since day one of coming to Mydar. It was the strongest as it had ever been, and it seemed so much that it was blocking out everything else in his mind. During that whole time he was looking down at the black and grimy floor. Slowly he turned his head to the right, he saw a door there, and he approached it.

The door seemed much like all the others, simple, black, and a silver knob with a diamond keyhole. That was when he thought that whatever was behind the door was very precious, so it would have made sense that the door would be locked.

Johan set the guitar case down and took out the key. He inserted it through the key hold, he gave it a good turn, pulled the key out, and turned the knob. As the door opened, there was a series of click-clacks that were going at such a fast pace that it could have passed for a language.

Still wishing to be cautious, Johan looked all around to see if any of the Obsessed would show up. Seeing that there was nothing there, he held onto the key, closed up the guitar case, and dashed into the room, and closing the door behind him. With the door closed he used the key and locked the door once again. As the click-clack language continued, Johan got a chance to see the room around him. It was enormous and circular like the inside of a cylinder with a soft golden light being cast down upon the wooden bookcases that were set into the circular walls. IN those book cases were books, hundreds if not thousands of them, but as he took in the scenery of the books the click-clack language stopped and a human voice called out.

"I told you before, Dark Eagle! It's almost finished would you learn some patience for God's sake!"

The voice sounded old and wheezy. Johan looked to the other side of the library room to find a rectangular doorway cut into the dozens of book cases. He picked up the guitar case and walked through the doorway.

Beyond the second doorway of the library room, Johan found himself in a large room, larger than the library room, though it was a little more rectangular, with some windows that led out to a balcony that was facing east towards the Misty Mountains. To his left was a bed, but along the walls were dozens of shelves with differing figures, statues, and other items that Johan didn't understand. He then looked to the left and saw a man sitting at an enormous desk that went from one corner to the other with papers scattered all across its working surface.

Johan assumed that it was a man because the voice seemed male in nature. Though as he looked closer the man sitting as the desk was very old with long white hair that came down his back and as he looked down Johan saw that the man was in chains that hung from him and gathered on the floor.

Remembering he was invisible he took the ring off and spoke. He had a very good assumption of who this man was.

"Are you the king of Mydar?" He asked

The old man stopped what he was going and turned around, his chair squeaking, papers rustling, and chains clattering. He looked to Johan with his beady dark eyes and smiled behind a beard that was as long and white as Gandalf's.

"I am." The old man wheezed, "My name is Talbot Kyros and I knew you would come. I know that you must have many, many questions, but time is short. Have you brought six of the seven items?"

Johan answered immediately. "Yes, I have. But I couldn't find the seventh one."

The old king laughed, "No need to worry, its right here." The king pushed his chair away from his desk and displayed the seventh and final item. Johan was stunned when he looked at it, it was an old fashioned typewriter like the ones that he had only seen in museums on Earth.

"What do we do now?" Johan asked quickly

"Take out the items you have and place them in a half-circle around me and the typewriter."

Johan did as the kind instructed. He brought out the six items that were brought form all over Mydar. As he held each one it felt like each item was elated to be back like a kid coming home from school. He placed them around the king and his typewriter, the sword, the ring, the cup, the watch, the key, and the rose. As he did he heard that same click-clack language, which he knew then, was coming from the typewriter.

Johan placed the rose at its proper place, he then stood up and wanted to ask the king something.

"What do you plan to do?" he asked

King Talbot Kyros answered back, "I'm writing a spell that will merge all seven items back to me."

Johan made the revelation, "Reuniting yourself with your power."

"Exactly." Talbot confirmed, "Because the power was separated from me I began to grow old and weak, while the items grew stronger. But I also plan something on the man who imprisoned me."

"Dark Eagle." Johan ascertained

"He had been forcing me to write stories for him. That's the nature of the Obsessed. They want to be author's but they lack talent and discipline to do it. So, that's what Dark Eagle and the rest of his Obsessed army have been doing to me, enslaving my talents and stripping this beautiful land of its riches. But I'll show them."

Talbot gathered up several stacks of paper form his desk and pulled out something from underneath his tattered clothes. It was a can of lighter fluid that showed its signs of age with rust, dents, and flaking paint. He set the stack of papers as far down the desk as he could without disturbing the circle that Johan made. The old king squirted the lighter fluid all over the stacks of papers, lifting some and squirting some more in as the fluid pooled in that one part of the desk.

He then threw away the lighter fluid into a nearby trashcan as he looked at the typewriter, and began to speak in a language that Johan couldn't understand. The sound of it had the rolling R's of Spanish, the fluidity of Elvish, and an ancient tone that was like Latin. Then the king began to speak in the common language and Johan assumed that the king was repeating what he said a moment ago.

"I am that was." Talbot wheezed, "I am that is, and I am that shall be. I am made of the stars and of the Earth. Let the door be open to me, for I am the One."

The king took out the paper from the typewriter and laid it flat on the desk as he took out two more things from his tattered clothes. A pen in one hand and a lighter in the other.

"It's nearly done and with just a pen stroke, I will be free." The king revealed as he opened the lighter

As he was about to strike a flame, the door to the library room opened and a voice called out.

"Talbot! I've got some new stuff for you to read and review."

Johan looked and saw who that voice belonged to. It was a man in black armor that seemed to resemble the outer armor of a Gundam, except for the head that was exposed as human. Just as human as the king or Johan himself, and the very human eyes of the one in black armor was looking at him.

"Who is this, Talbot?" The black armored man asked

"You should know who it is, Dark Eagle." Talbot responded

"This is the leader of the Obsessed?" Johan asked the king rather surprised

"You bet your ass, puny Gundam!" Dark Eagle condescended at him, "And what do you think you're doing, Talbot?"

"Something that I should have done a long time ago, ridding myself of you!" Talbot answered defiantly.

"Oh yeah?" Dark Eagle asked back, "And what will you be without me, you has-been!?"

"I will be free at last." Talbot answered with narrow eyes as he had the lighter opened, "By the way the story you asked me to write? The one I said I would finish today? All the answers to those questions? They're in that pile over there."

He pointed to the stack of papers. As Dark Eagle looked he then asked something that he would come to regret very dearly.

"Why is there lighter fluid on it?"

Talbot started the lighter and tossed it into the pile.

Dark Eagle screamed, "NO!"

But he was too late as the lighter landed and the stack exploded into flames, blackening the paper instantly. The pitiful Dark Lord of the Obsessed scrambled to put the fire out as King Talbot Kyros took his pen and made his mark. A swirling mark, a curly-q at the bottom as the Dark Lord screamed to get back his precious story that he didn't even write himself.

Meanwhile, Johan watched and witnessed something spectacular. He watched as the items all around the king began to glow. Even the ring that blazed its cryptic message in those odd letters, but they were white, and it wasn't the only one, all of the items around the king began to glow and blaze a white brilliance. Then they seemed ot loose their shape and become pools of light. Including the typewriter, the pools of light began to leak into each other like water until they began a ring around the king who was levitating out of the chair. His chains, long hair, and beard hanging from him. As the light grew more intense the chains began to break into pieces releasing him at long last.

The chains were gone as the ring of water-like light began to drip upwards towards the floating king. That was when the light became hands and arms that wrapped themselves around the king like children hugging their father. As the light hugged the king, bolts of it arched outward like bolts of electricity in a Jacobs Ladder. They say that the odds of getting struck by lighting are mathematically slim, but Johan was at that slim end of odds as one of the arches of lightning struck him in the chest. He fell to the floor as he grasped his chest seeing blood spilling from his wound. The only thought that was in his mind was…_not again…_he had come that far only to be at death's door once again, but he knew that the cup wouldn't save his life again. All that he could do was witness the rest of the kings' ritual with the last bits of life left in him.

The light consumed the king until his whole body was the light itself, and the king let out a great cry but the cry was changing. At first it was his wheeze then the wheeze changed in pitch as it came down to a deep tone, and then it came to a young voice untouched by times of drinking and smoking. The body of light let out a great flash as the kings body came back down into the chair.

Dark Eagle came closer to look at the king, but to his great surprise the king rose out of the chair. Talbot Kyros was no longer a decrepit old man under the dark lords' thumb. He was a handsome and strong looking young man with shortly cut black hair and dark brown eyes like mahogany. He no longer felt powerful as Talbot moved with blurry speed over to Johan. He took the injured Gundam pilot went out to the balcony and jumped.

Thinking that he had lost his greatest prize, Dark Eagle went to the balcony to see that the king was flying away to the South, to the City of Nash. He flew away in the same way superheroes have done in a realm unknown to those in Mydar. The furious Dark Eagle shouted at the escaping king.

"I will find you!" He shouted, "You'll be nothing without me!"

To be continued…


	21. The Priming

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 21: The Priming**

000

In the clouds over the Lands of Mydar, King Talbot Kyros flew like a superman with the injured Gundam pilot, Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez in his arms. He had already passed over the lake and saw how much Johan was bleeding. Seeing that he couldn't let him die, his mind searched for the others and found them. He flew up higher into the clouds feeling the iciness all around him before he took the direct nose dive down through the clouds, down over the skyline to the City of Nash and down to the ground to the loading dock of the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory. Right before hitting the ground he made a mid-air summersault and landed upon his feet. He looked up at the side of the doll factory and carried Johan in his arms up the stairs to the third floor. Talbot kicked open the door to the third floor sending those inside into a great flurry of battle readiness.

"Hold everyone!" Talbot shouted as he came through, "Johan's been struck!"  
All the members in the Fellowship of the One dropped their guard as they heard the news. Even the Seven guards stopped dead in their tracks when they saw their kings face as he laid down Johan on the floor. He brought him in like a paramedic bringing in a patient into the emergency room that desperately needed care.

Everyone gathered around and saw the terrible truth: Johan was dying, it seemed unthinkable, even to his family who gathered closely. His wife knelt beside him her hand on his bleeding chest and her lips to his forehead.

"Don't leave, Johan." She began to cry

"I can save him." Talbot interfered

"How?" Haruka asked through her tears

"Stand back." Talbot instructed as he vigorously rubbed his hands together. He rubbed his hands as if he was warming them through friction or like a monk rubbing prayer beads between his palms. As soon as he stopped he laid both hands one on top of each other like a lifeguard giving CPR. As the blood began to ooze even more, the Fellowship of the One saw that the blood stopped, not only stopped but began to flow in reverse back into the wound in Johan's chest. The wound itself began to close up with the blood coming back to it like a hungry mouth receiving food. At last the wound was closed leaving the blood stains on his clothes as he coughed back to life.

"Johan!" Haruka shouted as she took her husbands hand in her arms and stroked his black hair.

Johan opened his eyes, "Haruka?" He asked, his vision blurry but slowly coming back, "Julia?...Leto?" He called to his children.

We're here, dad." Leto said, "Everything's going to be just fine."

"I know, meho." Johan wheezed, "I did it…I returned all the items to the true king…mission…complete."

Talbot placed his hand on Johan's shoulder and advised like a good doctor, "You'll need to rest. You've lost quite a lot of blood."

Johan silently nodded as he fell asleep.

Talbot stood up and turned to face the other members of the Fellowship. Most of them didn't know what to make of him, even the most primitive (namely the Kenshin-gumi) who thought that Talbot was some kind of god or maybe a half-god. At least that was only a few of them, while the Seven Guards approached and all knelt before him just like the king that he was.

"Master." They all bowed and groveled

"Please, get up my friends." Talbot said with a good smile on his face

The seven guards got to their feet and all of them were so elated to see their friend returned and just like how they had remembered him. Of course with their kings orders they still wanted to kneel as well as hug him, but when they couldn't' do that something else was done.

"Welcome back, Talbot." Callina smiled

"It's good to be back." Talbot answered, "And to be in one piece again."

The other members of the Fellowship did feel left out. After all this man whom the Seven Guards claimed was their king, made them feel annoyed. Mainly because they had come so far and that they weren't getting any of the credit they justly deserve. Someone had to bring this up and there were several members who did think alike in this respect.

"Excuse me." Lupin stepped in and added arrogantly, "I think some credit is due to the rest of us."

"He's right." Sanosuke Sagara added, "We busted our asses getting here and a little gratitude is needed."

"Along with some gold." Gene Starwind finished

"Mind your tongues! All of you!" Gandalf shouted

"No, Gandalf." Talbot said trying to calm the fight amongst them, "They are quite right." He then addressed all the members of the Fellowship. "All of you have done so much and for this I am eternally grateful, and for what you have done, I shall return you all home, as well as give you generous portions from my personal vault."

"Do you promise that?" Jim Hawking asked

"The kings' word is his bond." Talbot promised but his voice then took a very sharp turn as he began again, "But we are not completely out of the woods just yet."

"What do you mean by that?" Misato Katsuragi asked

"I think we should sit." Talbot answered and then looked around, "Does anyone have any paper?"

"I do." Quatre Raberba Winner responded as he rummaged through his knapsack, "I've been keeping a journal so that I can make some reports when this is all over."

He brought out a yellow lined spiral notebook that had the creases all over its cover from rolling around in the knapsack. As well as some stains upon the pages from when they trekked across rivers and into the dark Mines of Midas. He handed the notebook over to Talbot who flipped through the pages glancing at the things Quatre wrote about.

"Ah, you went through the Mines of Midas." The King observed, "That crazy man."

"We were told." Leto Rodriguez asked, "That Midas asked and begged you for that power. The power of the Golden Touch."

"Yes, he did." Talbot said as he continued to flip through the pages, "Midas was one of the Obsessed, he swam in the riches of my vault but it wasn't enough so he begged, asked, and pleaded for the power. And this is while I was slaving for Dark Eagle. So after three weeks of him begging every day and night, I granted his wish. And by the looks of your report, you know the rest."

Talbot flipped right to the end of the notebook where there were some blank pages. From within his tattered clothes he pulled out a very ordinary looking black pen. He sat down on the floor and began to write.

"I know many of you have questions." Talbot started, "First, the tears."

"Whose been controlling them?" Heero Yuy asked

"I have…" Talbot answered, "My reason was that I was captured around the time of the first tear. The one where the Sailor Senshi and the Preventers met."

"I remember that." Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) recalled how they found out that Johan's wife Haruka (whom he thought was dead) was still alive and being held prisoner by Trieze Kushrinada who was possessed by a demon.

"All of the tears." Talbot continued, "Were to train all of you."

"Train us?" Shinji asked rather surprised

"Aren't we strong enough already?" Domon Kasshu asked

"On your own, I would agree." Talbot said as he continued to scribble in the yellow spiral notebook. "But you needed to know that there are other worlds than your own. Thus the reason for the tears and I waited until the time was right to bring you all here."

"And our new powers?" Sailor Mars asked

"Call that a perk for being here." Talbot answered as he finished his writing in the notebook. He stood up with his fingers on the corner of the page ready to rip it out.

"Everyone stand back." He advised, "Against the walls."

While everyone followed Talbot's instructions, he took his pen and made one last mark on the paper as if it were his signature. As soon as he did that he ripped the page cleanly out of the notebook and threw it into the air. It floated for a while and came softly to the ground. Nearly every member of the Fellowship felt a little confused, but the Seven Guards stayed back, and before anything could be asked, their answer came.

The paper began to fold in upon itself and again and again almost like an origami bird, but it didn't stop there. It continued to fold as well as grow outward and upward. The very form of it became more and more familiar as the seconds passed. The paper folded outward to a flat circle and then began to rise from a central pillar that sat upon four outward legs. That's when it became clear to the Fellowship that the paper that Talbot threw to the floor was becoming a table, but that wasn't all. From around its enormous edge came little pieces of paper that dropped like pieces of fruit from a tree. Each piece that fell began to fold into squares that soon sprouted four legs, backs, and arm rests. As the table and the chairs took their final form a veneer of finish and upholstery came over them all making them into solid oak, steel, and cushion.

The Fellowship stood in awe of it.

"Cool." Hikaru uttered

"There are many things that are within my masters' power." Vash said, "That's what you told us, right Jake?"

"I did say that." Jake confirmed

Talbot addressed everyone, "Please, take a seat, all of you."

As the members of the Fellowship of the One sat, they found that there were enough chairs for everyone. It wasn't until everyone sat down that each of them had realized how large the table was, but as each of them sat (including Johan who had made quite a great recovery in just a few short minutes) they felt like that story about the Knights of the Round table. In that story of how each knight was equal to the king. Just as they all took their seats the council began.

The king took his seat, "Now, as I mentioned before we are not quite out of the woods just yet. I may have returned with my powers intact, but the Obsessed still occupy the lands of Mydar. As long as they occupy this world, it will never be free."

"And none of us will return home." Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) mentioned in a rather mournful tone

"Exactly." Talbot agreed

"So, what do we do then?" Shinji asked

"Are you stupid Third Child?" Asuka asked in her blatant arrogance, "We strike back."

George DeSand shook his head, "With all do respect Madame Asuka, that plan of attack is a little fool hearty."

"What did you say, Frenchman?" Asuka shouted back

"Actually, both George and Asuka are right." Loki interrupted

"How so?" Bartleby asked

"If we attack head on, the Obsessed wouldn't suspect a thing, because they too would consider it fool-hearty."

"We may have a plan, but we need resources." Jim Hawking pointed out, "When we came here our ship, the Outlaw star was trashed in a crash landing."

"Added to that, we also need our Gundams." Chibodee crocket also brought up.

"And there is something else." Bartleby added to the discussion, "If we attack the Obsessed here, their reinforcements will arrive from space."

"You mean there's more of them?" Miss Kaoru asked, "Among the stars?"  
"That's just it." Jake Chambers confirmed, "And what all of this boils down to is resources and a base of operations."  
Talbot began to give off a very sheepish smile

"What's so funny?" Duo Maxwell demanded from Talbot

"The base of operations and resources I'll take care of, but right now we need to make sure we're safe. Bartleby, scan the present, have the Obsessed caught onto us?"

Bartleby sat in his chair with his eyes dashing left and right as if he was thinking his hardest or if someone was watching him. Then after a few moments of deliberation he came back with his report.

"Nope." He said as he shook his head, "They're searching high and low but they haven't caught on, but it's a safe bet that they'll find us if we stay too long."

"Good." Talbot nodded, "But by the time they search this place, we'll be long gone."

"What about our ships and Gundams?" Quatre Raberba Winner asked with great concern

"No ones found them yet, but I don't believe that they'll remained hidden for long." Bartleby answered Quatre's inquiry.

"Don't worry about it." Talbot advised, "You'll soon have them all back, in the mean time, Loki work with Rally and Minnie May on setting up traps and early alarms on the roof and the first floor, we don't want any unwelcome guests."

"Right." Loki smirked

"Armand." Talbot ordered, "I need you to draw up some plans for a mobile suit assault carrier, one that can take off and land on a planet and the other details I'll leave to your imagination."

"Got it." Armand nodded

As the ones who were given their orders set about their task, the rest of the Fellowship felt a little bewildered.

"What should we do?" Misato Katsuragi asked

"Just sit back and wait." Talbot advised as he came to another piece of blank paper, "But I imagine that all of you are very hungry, hold on for a sec."

The remaining members of the Fellowship watched as Talbot Kyros scribbled furiously into the notebook. His hand going from left to right and back again until at last he ripped the page out and made that curly-q signature. He raised the paper above his head and blew it into the air like a paper airplane. The paper floated into the air and as it descended onto the table it began to glow like a firefly in summer until it gave out one last flash of light. IT was the kind of brilliance that made the Fellowship close their eyes at least for a moment.

When their eyes recovered from the flash they opened them to see such sights that made their mouths water. All around the table were all kinds of food. Foods from all nations, there was sushi and all kinds of things that the Kenshin-gumi knew that they couldn't afford to eat back home. There was also all kinds of sweets and deserts including some doughnuts for Vash the Stampede. While in front of them were plates for them to pile their food.

"Well." Talbot shrugged, "Dig in everyone."

They needed no further instructions and they reached out for the food of their choice and they feasted like they never had before.

Sanosuke took one bite of the sushi, "This is really good."

"That's you, Sanosuke Sagara." Talbot smiled, "When there's good food, you'll be found."

Down the table Vash was humming to himself as he savored every bite he took of the doughnuts off of the desert tray.

"These are so good." Vash moaned in the pleasure of the taste

"Glad you like them." Talbot said as he wrote into the blank pages of Quatre's journal. As he did many of the Fellowship members were curious about what he was doing. Similar to how people become curious about something that's out of the "ordinary".

"What are you writing?" Michiru Kaoih (Sailor Neptune) asked

Talbot looked up to the Sailor Senshi and answered, "I'm writing up our new base of operations."

"How are you doing that?" Fujiko asked as she sipped a little bit of champagne

"You had witnessed my power with this table, these chairs, and this feast." Talbot explained

"He does have a point." Millie Thompson said as she munched on a little bit of bread

"But what he did is almost like magic." Sanosuke spoke his superstitious mind, "Some kind of sorcery." On the other hand when an opportunity presents itself (Usually if it involves food or money) he was willing to overlook his own superstitions.

"There has to be an explanation for all this." Miss Kaoru said in her own self-assurance

"There is actually." Talbot said as he multi-tasked with writing, a little eating, some drinking, and talking, "Because I created this world, I am aware of the rules I placed and I can ignore them or redefine them as I see fit."

"But what about the whole writing thing and the paper?" Jigen asked as he munched away on his food.

"It's a power that I as well as other like me have." Talbot explained, "There are others like me but they live in a place that not very many people in Mydar have seen."

"What's it like there? That place that you come from?" Sai-Saici asked as he continued to eat the wonderful bounty of food.

Talbot continued to write as he went on to talk about the place that he came from, "It was a place filled with just as many beautiful dreams and horrible nightmares as your own worlds. I once started to think that we saw more nightmares than dreams. Then I saw the lands of my home world, lush green hills, blue oceans, and white capped mountains that reached up to the sky, and that was when all my thoughts seemed to vanish in the beauty around me. And there are also the cities that were wondrous as well as overwhelming at the same time."

He continued to write as what he told the members of the Fellowship sunk in. It seemed incredible that the man sitting at the round table came from a place that was like theirs. It just seemed unfathomable that he was a mere mortal with all those god-like powers that he had demonstrated in the past hour or so, turning paper into tables and food.

"I'm almost done writing up our new base." Talbot announced to the Fellowship.

"Master." A familiar voice called out

Everyone at the table looked to see Loki, Rally, and May had returned.

"Welcome back, Loki, May, and Rally." Talbot said to them as they took the empty seats and filled their plates with food.

"We've finished setting up some perimeter traps." Minnie May reported as she took a bite of some Chinese food that was readily available.

"So, if anyone comes close to us, we'll hear about it." Rally smiled with confidence.

"Good." Talbot nodded as he continued with the writings in Quatre's journal, "Just a few more things and our base will be finished."

000

The night came over the lands of Mydar, the feast on the third floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory came to a close. The Fellowship of the One sat back enjoying a full stomach, which was something that they hadn't done in quite a long time. Though Talbot Kyros hadn't taken his pen out of the yellow notebook that was Quatre Raberba Winner's, but he kept that respect for what was already written and just used blank pages. Yet, that whole time through the feast he was like a full blooded scholar, and though the Fellowship had a vague idea of what he was writing, nothing could prepare them for seeing it themselves.

"Just one last piece…" Talbot announced as he mad his last punctuation, "There. Now to take the pages out, make the mark, and our base will be finished."

Usagi yawned gently from all the excitement of the day and all the food she had, "Will there be beds there?"

"You said it, sister." Sanosuke stretched and patted his stomach, "After a long day and a great meal, a good night sleep is what we will need."

"Most certainly." Talbot answered as he began to carefully rip out page after page of what he wrote. He did it in such a way so that he wouldn't tear up the pages. By the time that he was done he must have torn out over fifteen pages of written material. After he tore the last page out he began to collect them neatly like a bureaucrat, he set the papers aside and pulled out a small paper clip from inside his tattered clothes. He slipped the paper clip on, flipped to the last page, and made that signature curly-q symbol. As quickly as he wrote the symbol, he tossed the paper clipped stack into the air.

The Fellowship watched like children at a spectacular magic show as the paper began to glow from within the black ink written upon it. The stack didn't even come down, it floated there as it grew in its luminosity that was so bright that it light up the entire floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory. At the pinnacle of the lights intensity it vanished, as if the light was water flowing down a drain, the papers and light were sucked into nothingness.

There were a few seconds of silence until the brash Gundam Fighter Chibodee Crocket had broken the icey silence.

"What the hell was that?" He asked still trying to recover from what he had just seen.

"That means that the base is made." Talbot explained, "Now, we just need to get there."

Jake began to get a smile like the kind a lot of kids get when they have something good on their minds.

"I believe that's my area." Jake smirked as he brought up his backpack to the table and allowed it to come down with a huge clunk. He opened it up and dug right into it sending out sounds of metal clinging against one another. After rooting around Jake brought out a key, just a regular looking garden variety key. That was until Jake brought out a small pocket tool kit, from that he used a file and began to make some more grooves and edges in the keys design. He filed away sending metal filings to the table and metal dust into his fingernails. The filings and dust collected very quickly as Jake worked the key, until he was finished and blew away all the unnecessary metal.

"Ready." He said to the Fellowship

"Wait a minute." Sanosuke stopped the proceeding acting very skeptical about all of it, "How can you know about this kid? You haven't even been there."

"There's always another way." Jake answered while he was putting away his pocket tool kit. He then turned to his master Talbot and reported to him, "The key is ready, master. We'll be able to get to the base very soon."

"Good, Jake." Talbot said as he rose to his feet and addressed the Fellowship, "Allright everyone, we'll be going to the new base that I had just created, get your things ready."

The Fellowship wasted no time in getting their belongings together as if they were going on a long trip. As they were, the ones who were rather preoccupied were Haruka, Julia, and Leto who were very concerned about Johan. It was rather odd that he made such a fast recovery especially from such a wound that he had in his chest, but there he was as if nothing had ever happened to him.

To Johan, on the other hand, he too was feeling very, very strange. Only over an hour ago he was drying on the floor in the Dark Tower only to be brought back to life once again. As he thought about his encounters with death, he wondered if they were a lot closer than how Heero had come to it. He wanted to put it aside but couldn't' because of something that felt so drastically different. It was something that was more potent, more concentrated than what he felt in his pull to the Dark Tower. He felt more aware about the events around him like he was listening device and he was set to super-high sensitivity. However, he couldn't sit and ponder upon it any longer because he and the rest of the Fellowship were about to be brought to a new base.

"Are you alright, Johan?" Haruka asked

Johan turned to look at his wife and children. He knew that he couldn't' answer truthfully because he couldn't' figure out what was wrong himself. So, he had to give Haruka the best possible answer that he could give her.

"I'm fine." He said trying to sound sure of himself

"I know you're not find, Johan." Haruka said laying her hand upon his shoulder, but before her husband could even give an answer they were interrupted by the matter at hand.

"Alright everyone." Jake announced as he approached one of the many closed doors with the rest of the Fellowship behind him. Even though Jake had exuded his confidence in his abilities, but why shouldn't he? It was a great gift given to him by his master, so without any doubts he inserted the key into the lock and turned the knob. He opened the door and beyond was a great high ceiling steel room.

The Fellowship stepped through one by one completely awed by the size of the place. To the eyes of the Gundam pilots it seemed like the Preventer Ship Relativity would only take up a small fraction of that place.

"Wow…" Duo Maxwell uttered, his voice echoing through the steel room.

"Is this where we will be living?" Fujiko asked, her voice and clicks of her high heels echoing throughout the steel room like Duo Maxwell's voice.

Behind them, Talbot Kyros was closing the door, he knew that this was the best way to cut off the Obsessed completely. After all, it would be obtuse to trek all across Mydar, waste valuable time, and risk getting caught in getting there. As the door was shut, the wooden door and brass handle gave way to a new door that was silvery and split down the center with words written upon a small tag on the right side of the door:

The Rabbit Hole

Repair Bay

"This won't be the place where you'll live." Talbot answered Fujiko's question, "This is where the ships and mobile suits will be held and repairs will be made. Your quarters are this way."

Johan brought up something to Talbot that Quatre mentioned a while ago, but he didn't even think about until the ships and Gundams were mentioned.

"What about them now?" Johan asked just as Talbot was about to show them the way to their new sleeping place.

Talbot smiled, "An excellent opportunity to try out this feature of our new base that I've called _The Rabbit Hole_."

Talbot walked the long way to the far end of the Repair Bay and as he made the small journey, William Maxwell had to ask the most purtanent and obvious question."

"Why do you call it, the Rabbit Hole?" He asked

"Because," Talbot explained, "This base is located in the Northern Wastleands past the Threnody Mountains, about a hundred miles or so from the Dark Tower and the City of Nash. And this base itself is underground as well."

The Fellowship must have walked the same distance as about half a mile and they came to the center of the Repair Bay to where a small panel stuck out of the floor and rose about to Talbot's waist with an incline to it. He looked at it and the Fellowship already figured that there were no buttons on that panel. It was as smooth as glass with lights that illuminated rectangular buttons with rounded corners and had print written into each light button.

Talbot tapped the smooth glass-like panel, his fingers touching the light up buttons, he seemed to do it as if he had been using it his whole life, even though it seemed like he was using it for the first time.

"Alright." Talbot said to himself, "I got a lock on them, and now to energize."

His hand came to an area of the panel that seemed blank at least for a moment until he ran three fingers up the incline and three bright yellow bars followed the path of his fingers to the top of the panel and then back down again. As he brought his hands down again, the Fellowship looked and right before their eyes they saw shapes appear.

The Shuffle Alliance saw the shapes of their Gundams, the Preventers saw the shape of the Relativity, and the Outlaw Six saw the shape of the Outlaw Star lying on its side. The shapes of all these things began to materialize into the actual things themselves. To their eyes as well as the eyes of the rest of the Fellowship it was incredible to see the things happen before their very eyes like an amazing magic trick. At least that's what it seemed like when the process was done and the Shuffle Alliance Gundams, the Preventer Ship Relativity, and the Outlaw Star were all there when just a few minutes ago they were sure that they were all left behind somewhere.

As the Fellowship took in what had just happened, the Mobile Suit Bay door of the Relativity opened and out came the leader of the Office of Preventer, Lady Une. She came out looking very shocked and overwhelmed by what she was seeing.

"Lady Une!" Quatre called out as he waved to her coming to the front of the Fellowship

"Quatre, can you tell me just what's going on?" She asked very puzzled to see the inside of the repair bay as well as all her Preventers. Who could blame her? One moment she was on the plains wondering when the Gundams would come back and then to suddenly be in a place where they were all there, it was enough to knock someone's perceptions out of order.

"It'll all be in my report, Lady Une." Quatre explained as he held up the yellow notebook that Talbot gave back to him.

"I look forward to reading it." Lady Une smiled.

000

Preventer Report

Officer: Quatre Raberba Winner

Code-name: The Noble in the Desert

Date: June 23, A.C. 216 (according to onboard clocks)

Report: So much has happened in the past week. It had begun on June 15, when the Office of Preventer had received notice that another tear had opened. Following instincts the Office of Preventer with a few select officers headed into the tear and arrived at a place called "Mydar". Most of the events of when Preventer arrived and when the Gundam pilots were reunited with our ship Relativity, are already in previous reports.

It has been about three days since the Preventer Gundams were reunited with the Preventer Ship Relativity, as well as a few other reunions. Such as the Outlaw Six with their ship, the Outlaw Star, and the Shuffle Alliance with their Gundams, and we have all come together in this place that the latest edition to our Fellowship (named Talbot Kyros) calls "The Rabbit Hole". He calls it that because of the fact that this new base is subterranean.

Repairs have already been made to the ship, the Outlaw Star thanks to a series of robots at the disposal of Talbot Kyros. These robots were called "Exocomps", which were self-sustaining, as well as self-learning machines that took care of several problems with the Outlaw Star almost like Mobile Dolls in space combat. Yet, these little machines are only the tip of the iceberg of the technology that Talbot Kyros had installed in this new base. There is another system that he has at his disposal that he used to bring the Shuffle Alliance Gundams, the Relativity, and the Outlaw Star here. It is a technology called a "Transporter System", which was explained (in a nutshell) to take solid matter, transfer it into energy and send it along a concentrated beam of information to its new location and reconstruct the solid matter in that new location. It is quite a marvelous technology in my opinion, though I'm sure that there are those among our new Fellowship that wouldn't like the idea of being deconstructed on such a level.

Another piece of very valuable technology that has been introduced to us is in an area called, "The Learning Center", in which there are chairs that are set up much like dentist chairs, except that beside them they each have a small screen. The way that they work (as it was explained) is a person can learn anything they choose. The screen sitting next to each chair would allow the user to choose whatever subject that they wanted to learn. Then by choosing it transverse magneto energies would surge through the human brain transferring digital data into electrochemical impulses in the human brain. However, Talbot said that he did not want to disrupt our universes anymore than what he has already done, and so none of us have used them.

"We have to stick to what we each do best." As Talbot had put it.

In the three days that our Fellowship has been here, there has also been a new construction on a ship that has been decided to be called, "The Novastorm". Talbot Kyros had explained to us all that it would serve as a mobile suit assault carrier. As it turns out, this ship would be able to carry all of the mobile suits in our Fellowship as well as carrier small one man fighters that Talbot has also called, "The Arrowheads" mainly because of their triangular shaped design.

The tensions amongst the Fellowship have been growing strong, because we all know that when the Novastorm is finished, we will all begin the attack. I only hope that we can all make it together.

000

It had only been three full days since the true King of Mydar had been freed, but as he himself stated that they weren't completely out of the woods just yet. He spoke of the Obsessed, the ones who had imprisoned him in his own tower, as long as they existed in the lands of Mydar, it would never be free. The King, Talbot Kyros, stressed this point very clearly. So, in the three days that they spent in the massive underground base called, "The Rabbit Hole" they prepared for the coming war for the Tower. It was as if they were all knives, swords, and guns being sharpened and greased up for their best performance, thanks to the equipment available to them.

The base, "The Rabbit Hole" was massive, stretching down and outward like the roots of an ancient tree, each branch containing all the amenities that they would need; the Repair bay where the Preventer Ship Relativity, the Outlaw Star, and the Gundams were situated for their repairs and maintenance. There were also the personal quarters that were quite "cushy" especially to the Peace Guns and the Kenshin-gumi who usually slept on the floors and very uncomfortable mattresses. The rooms even had view screens as large as windows that would allow a person to see what they wanted, a forest, a mountain, a river, or a beach. Talbot had even shown them all a device called a "replicator" which when activated and given a command can create food, clothing, even weapons if so desired. Yet, there was no need for making more weapons since Talbot had such a ready supply of weapons.

Though most of the activity over the past three had had been in the repair bay, there Talbot as well as his guard Armand the Weapon Smith were busy building the mobile suit assault carrier that Talbot had christened, "The Novastorm". IT was the morning of the first day that Armand brought Talbot the plans for it, that was when Armand lived up to his reputation of being a great weapons designer.

He demonstrated his weapon-making skills in practicality when he built a new beam saber for Johan to replace the one that he had lost. It was built to be just like Johan's old saber, a curved casing for faster parries and a green blade. As far as the Novastorm and Arrowhead fighters construction, that was left in the hands of Talbot's magic. All he did was copy what Armand had designed onto lined paper. He did it in the same way that he materialized the table, chairs, and feast for the Fellowship. Simply wrote it out and used his magic symbol to make it a reality.

The Novastorm itself was roughly the same size as the Preventer ship Relativity except that it was a lot more streamlined with a great long nose that was almost needle-like coming from its oddly short triangular body with its swept back wings and large engines. The long needle-like nose, as Armand explained, was a ship launcher. It could launch out mobile suits as well as ships as long as they fit through the long accelerator shaft. The nose of the Novastorm also had a second shaft directly beneath the first one so that more ships and mobile suits may be launched at the same time. Loading the Novastorm up was like loading a gun, load from behind and shoot through the front. The Novastorm was also equipped with a cloaking device which would allow the ship to be invisible to the naked eye, radar, and heat. All of this was done on the first day of the "Rabbit Hole".

After the Novastorm and Arrowheads were built and the Outlaw Star repaired within those three full days, it seemed that the attack would be soon but a plan would be needed and a very good one too. Armand, Loki, Bartleby, and Talbot met with the rest of the Fellowship to device their ingenious scheme. While it was happening, and the Fellowship steeped in debate about how to proceed with this plan, one of them was severely distracted.

Johan sat in his seat in the meeting room as the debating continued around him, he simply shut it out like background noise. It was the awareness that was starting to get to him. Ever since he came back from the Dark Tower he felt changed, just like Princess Zelda's tarot reading. He had changed, he could feel it but how was still eluding him like a memory that he was long since gone. It simply drove him to his wits end as he would wander the vast halls of the Rabbit Hole on the first day.

He was slowly brought back to reality when his name was called.

"Johan?" The voice called to him, "Johan?" A pair of fingers snapped and Johan was brought back.

"I was asking you what you thought." Duo Maxwell explained

"About what?" Johan asked back

"About our attack plan." Loki reiterated, "Haven't you been listening?"

Johan shook his head, "I've been preoccupied lately."

"With what?" Haruka asked as she laid her hand upon her husbands shoulder

Johan looked down at the conference table and then back up to all his family and friends. He could see in their eyes that they all had their concerns about him. Almost like at a support group when everyone assumes the worst and really listens to the person that they think is dying. Johan looked and decided that there really no use in trying to hide what was bugging him. He took a deep breath to spill out everything.

"I'm not sure…how to explain it." Johan began, "…I think…the best way I can describe it is that I've become aware of things."

"What kind of things?" Bartleby asked

Johan looked at the guard knowing full well that he couldn't lie because he would definitely know.

"This morning" Johan explained, "Even though I was asleep I knew that Haruka was in the shower while Julia and Leto were still in bed. I could even see them as if I were awake."

"It could have just been a dream." Relena counseled

Johan shook his head, "I know that it wasn't…in a dream you aren't very…lucid. What I saw I knew for certain was happening."

"What could have caused this?" The inquisitive Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) asked

"I already know what caused it." Johan responded

"Then what?" Duo Maxwell asked

"It was when I had brought the items to the Dark Tower." Johan went on to explain, "And when Talbot merged with the them, an arch of his power went through my chest and after I was revived I became slowly more aware of this world, like coming out of sleep. What I think happened is that while Talbot was merging with this items, some of his power spilled into me. I have also started to manifest more powers. Such as I can move objects purely by will."

"So can the rest of us." Rain Kasshu pointed out

"But that's not all I can do." Johan reported

"Master, can this be true?" Gandalf asked

"I'm afraid so." Talbot responded, "Johan, you've been able to absorb some of my powers while I was merging with them. You can bend the laws of reality itself to your whim, but these powers will only function in Mydar. That goes for all of you, once you return home, you will no longer have these abilities."

Lupin snapped his fingers, "Damn, and I was hoping that they would help my thieving career."

"Would have been nice." Jigen agreed

"And I would have caught you even quicker." Zenigatta added

Talbot got back to the matter at hand, "With these abilities, Johan, I believe that you will be a great asset on the battlefield against the Obsessed, which means that you and the rest of Preventer would stay here on the ground while another team would fight in space."

"But we still need a plan of attack." Trowa brought up, "Without a plan there's no attack, and no attack there will be no victory."

"I have something worked out." Bartleby announced as he tapped the side of his head, "From what I've spied, I have found a weakness in the Obsessed structure. The weakness lies in the City of Nash, which has gone under Martial Law because of the Obsessed looking for us. It is in the city where a building stands called the _Troy Tower, that_ looks like this."

Bartleby waved his hand over the conference table and from the center came a projection of a great tower that was only dwarfed by the Dark Tower itself. It seemed familiar to some members of the Fellowship who had seen the skyline of the City. The tower itself seemed like a needle or like an inverted icicle with its wide base at the bottom and coming to the sharp point at the top.

"Inside the Troy Tower on the 45th floor," Bartleby continued, "There's a communication hub that relays orders and information to the other Obsessed forces both here in Mydar and in Space."

"So, if we knock it out, the Obsessed won't be as formidable." Sazuka deduced

"That's right," Bartleby confirmed, "Except this tower is heavily guarded by the Obsessed Elite, Agents, Wraiths, Cyborgs, and so on."

"Then what do we do?" The Elvish warrior Link asked

"Here's what I propose." Loki the Warrior spoke up, "We take our forces and split them into two groups. First will be the Earth Forces which will consist of the Preventers, the Lupin Crew, the Kenshin-Gumi, the Sailor Senshi, the Peace Guns, myself, Armand, the Gunsmith Cats, Link, Gandalf, and Draco. The second will be the Space Forces, which will consist of the Shuffle Alliance, the Outlaw Six, the Novastorm, the Preventer Teens, and the Evangelions.

"The first part of this operation will consist of a shuttlecraft called the Defiant." Loki waved his hand over the table and the image of the Troy Tower changed to an oddly shaped craft, "We will outfit it with a cloaking device and launch it from the cloaked Novastorm straight into the City of Nash, which as Bartleby has reported has gone under Martial Law. With the cloaking device activated we land in the city at the doorstep of the Troy Tower."

"And with that device on both the Defiant and the Novastorm it'll give us the element of surprise." Gandalf stated

"Right." Loki nodded, "And the ones that will be on the Defiant will be all of the Earth forces, with the exception of the Preventers, who will stay behind and wait for the conformation to attack. After the Defiant lands, the first ones out will be the Kenshin-Gumi, the Sailor Senshi, and Draco. All of you will serve as the distraction for the Obsessed guards of the Troy Tower. While the rest will enter the tower and disable the hub."

As soon as Loki stated this plan there were a lot of low whispers amongst the Fellowship thinking that the plan was oddly dangerous. Especially amongst those who were assigned to go on this mission.

"After the hub is disabled," Loki began again, "the attack can begin in which the Novastorm will launch to space where it will launch the Outlaw Star, the Arrowhead fighters piloted by the Evangelions, the Shuffle Alliance, and the Preventer Teens. As far as reinforcements on Mydar, I have sent messages to the Fremin in the Gunsmoke Desert as well as the Elves of Riverden. They've already dispatched themselves and will start the attack the same time we do, which will be in two days. Any questions?"

Misato Katsuragi rose her hand, "Who will command the Novastorm?"

"That job would normally be mine." Talbot spoke up, "But I have to face Dark Eagle myself, which is why I'm going on the Defiant with the Earth Forces."

"As far as who would command the Novastorm" Loki stated, "That job will be yours, Major Misato Katsuragi. You do have command experience, right?"

"Yes, I do." Misato answered, "And I will command the Novastorm."

"Then we're all in agreement on the plan of attack." Gandalf stated, "In two days we will be fighting our greatest battle yet, a war that no one in Mydar will forget."

"No doubt about it." Talbot quietly agreed

Johan and Heero looked at each other and nodded to say, "Mission Accepted."

And so it was that two days later the Fellowship of the One would fight for the Freedom of Mydar.

To be continued…


	22. The War for the Tower

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 22: The War for the Tower**

000

Preventer Report:

Officer: Heero Yuy

Code-name: Perfect Soldier

Date: June 25, A.C. 216 (according to onboard clocks)

Report: The time has arrived; all of our preparations have been done. All the Gundams belonging to Preventer and the Shuffle Alliance have been given fine tunings. The Outlaw Star is repaired and the Novastorm is complete.

The Tensions among us all have grown thick with the time of our attack drawing closer. Even though we all have faced great dangers before, nothing can prepare us for what will lie ahead in this our greatest battle.

Yet, the King of this world has absolute confidence in us all for the abilities that we all have and share. I may not be sure about everyone else, but I know that I will complete this mission, even if it means die trying. This has been my way and I will continue with it.

000

Deep underground in the Northern Wastelands inside the Rabbit Hole, the Fellowship of the One were preparing for the war that would come on that day. Everything was setup for it, the Novastorm was moved to the launch bay, which was the one of the closest rooms to the surface itself.

The ship had already been loaded with the mobile suits, the Arrowheads, and the Outlaw Star. Most of all, the shuttle craft called the Defiant was loaded in, the very one that would serve as the first blow in the war against the Obsessed. While everyone took their places, either boarding the Outlaw Star for the Outlaw Six, getting into the cockpits of the Gundams, or boarding the defiant, the mood amongst the Fellowship was very quiet. Then again, perhaps no one could blame them because in less than one hour they would be charging into battle. Yet, one thing was certain; they were definitely not going in alone. Every member of the Fellowship had friends with them, in that time in the Rabbit Hole, every group had come to know each other, and the bonds between them grew stronger. Even amongst the couples of the Fellowship, such as Vash and Meryl, Wolfwood and Millie, Gene and Melphina, Lupin and Fujiko, Heero and Relena, Johan and Haruka, Asuka, Misato, and Shinji. All of them felt closer after enduring all of this, while others wondered if they would come out of the coming great battle alive, but the more battle hardened of the Fellowship knew that was the risk involved.

Onboard the bridge of the Novastorm, Misato Katsuragi sat in the captains' chair of the circular room with stations all around her. Though as Talbot explained to her, that not very many controllers would be needed, since some members of the Shuffle Alliance stayed onboard (Namely Chibodee Crocket's crew). They would be the operators, Bunny was in charge of operations, Janet for tactical, Cathy for Navigation, and Shirley was Misato's second-in-command.

"Bunny." Misato called to her chief of operations, "Have all ships and suits been loaded?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Bunny reported as she read the smooth glass-like display of her station, "Reports have just come in that all mobile suits and ships have been loaded. We are ready for launch."

"Open the launch doors." Misato ordered

"Opening the launch doors." Bunny announced as she followed the order given to her.

Directly above the Novastorm, the doors to the launch bay began to shudder as they opened sending down rain of dust and sand as well as beams of light that sparkled off of the Novastorm's smooth hull. Yet, as the dust came down onto the hull, it rolled off as if the hull was rejecting it altogether in order for its shimmering glory to remain like the pride of an avid collector.

Onboard the bridge, Misato and the operators looked to see the sunlight, real sunlight that they hadn't seen in at least a week. A sight that made Misato smile, thinking back to her earlier life, when it seemed to be so much better, before she became part of the Second Impact generation.

"Ma'am?" Bunny asked

Misato snapped back to reality, she cleared her throat, "Begin Vertical Launch Sequence."

"Beginning vertical launch sequence." Bunny announced as she and Cathy began to work simultaneously in starting up the Novastorm.

Outside along the bottom of the Novastorm, small hatches began to open and blue flames ignited sending up the dust, dirt, and smoke as it rose up and out of the launch bay to the blue skies above.

"Engage cloak." Misato ordered

Bunny immediately followed the order and the cloaking device activated sending its effects across the smooth hull of the Novastorm. It was already fifty feet off the ground when it became completely invisible leaving only the illusion of a strong win blowing through the launch bay with the force of a tornado. Within a few minutes the doors to the Rabbit Hole closed underneath the invisible Novastorm.

"We have cleared the Launch Bay." Bunny Reported

"Now to start the first part of Operation Trojan." Misato told her small bridge cew, "Open outer doors to Catapult One."

"Aye." Janet acknowledged, "Opening outer door to catapult one. Catapult one door open."

"Load the Defiant for launch."

"Defiant loaded."

Below in the bowels of the ship, the system of the Catapult worked by the use of platforms. The platforms themselves worked with a vertical conveyer system loading and each ship or suit in place. Once a ship is launched, the vertical conveyer moves loading in its next ship for launch. It was there at the beginning of Catapult One that the Defiant waited. Its engines had already started as it moved into place of the magnetic accelerators. The accelerators were rings that were placed inline down the inner tube of the Catapult to the outside world. Each ring would use a magnetic field that would engage its ship or suit and accelerate its momentum until it is launched. The defiant sat hovering in the first accelerator ring already cloaked for its mission.

On board, the members of the Earth Forces were scared as well as nervous and excited at the same time, which is why the whole experience was so weird to them. All of those intense feelings brewing, stewing, and colliding with one another so much that they weren't even sure what to feel.

On the bridge, Misato gave the order as soon as she heard the news that the Defiant was cloaked, loaded, and ready.

"Here we go." She whispered as she commanded, "Launch the Defiant."

"Aye, Launching." Janet reported

Below in Catapult one, the accelerator ring released and the Defiant sped, and sped, and sped with the ring around it pushing it faster until it exited out of the tube like a bullet out of a gun. And so, off it went to the City of Nash where Operation Trojan would start phase 1.

"Close Catapult One door." Misato ordered as she them commented to her crew, "Now, we wait, again."

000

On board the Defiant, as it jetted its way over the lands of Mydar, the crew waited in silent anticipation. At the controls flying the Defiant was Talbot Kyros who looked ahead seeing the Dark Tower approaching, with the goal beyond, the City of Nash. He passed the time by running through his crew complement in his head. There was the Sailor Senshi, the Peace Guns, the Lupin Crew, the Kenshin Gumi, the Gunsmith Cats, the Elvish Warrior Link, Gandalf the White, Draco the Beast Master, Armand, and Loki. The idea of if it was too much did come across his mind, but then he thought that with the Obsessed no one could be too careful.

With the Dark Tower coming closer Talbot was still a little paranoid that soon they would be found. He tried to reassure himself that Dark Eagle wouldn't expect him to use such technology or tricks.

As his thoughts wandered, a set of footsteps came up from behind him. He set the ship to autopilot and turned to look at who was approaching him. Immediately as his eyes looked in that direction he saw red and knew right away who it was, Vash the Stampede.

"What is it, Vash?" Talbot asked with a smile on his face and in his voice

"I'm sure you probably know that many of us were wondering what you plan to do once you face Dark Eagle." Vash explained his voice sounding serious and not brining up that goof-ball front that he did in the past.

"You're wondering if I'm going to kill him, Vash." Talbot said even though he never listened in on the conversations because his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the mission, the ship, and the Obsessed.

"In a word, yes." Vash answered, his bright blue eyes looking down at Talbot asking for the answer to his question.

"Despite your fight against Legato and your brother you still hold up the idea of not killing." Talbot said with a great smile, "I do admire that in you, Vash, but this is a fight I have to fight and win on my own terms."

"No one has the right to take the life of another." Vash said his stare becoming grave

Talbot knew all too well of the very person who gave Vash that sentiment, so much so that he couldn't help but smile at him.

"I didn't even say I would." Talbot refuted, "But I still have to face him to truly gain back my freedom and dignity."

BEEP! BEEP!

Talbot turned to his console, "We're nearing out landing point. I suggest you wait with the others Vash, we are about to start our surprise attack."

Vash left Talbot's company and rejoined the others who were still silent about the matter at hand. That being that anyone of them could die at any second of the whole plan. With the support that they had they had a faint glimmer of hope that they will get through this alive and in one piece. The invisible Defiant flew over the City of Nash and came into the skyline where there was the Troy Tower. The very place that they would strike, Talbot took the controls to manual and began to set the Defiant down on the streets.

000

Amongst the Earth Forces, they felt a slight bump saying that they landed shortly after Vash had told them that they were about to land. After that the Decoy team (The Kenshin Gumi, The Sailor Senshi, and Draco the Beast Master) stood up waiting for the orders.

"Decoy team." Talbot called out, "Ready to transport."

"Ready!" They replied back

Talbot activated the transporter that sent the Decoy Team out into the streets of Nash. It truly was the first time that any of them had seen it. Everything was in ruin, cars piled up and rusting away into nothingness, the streets cracked in their need of repair, and the air so dense, dirty, and acrid like being in a field that was already burnt to ash. Above them they saw the buildings that stretched upward like trees of a forest, with their glass windows dirty, dingy, and cracked.

Draco brought their attention back, "Let's start." He said

Sanosuke Sagara cracked his knuckles, "I'll take that pleasure." He smirked

He looked around, not really caring what he got to demolish with his attack, just as long as he did since it had been so long since he did anything like it. At last he set his sights upon an old rusting car; he smiled devilishly as he drew back his fist and made the attack.

"FUTAI NO KIWAMI!" He shouted which sent the car directly to dust on the cracked sidewalk. Sanosuke wiped his hands as he smiled, "Damn that felt good to do."

Yet, Sanosuke would have had time to bask in the fact that there was action going on but all around them, alarms began to sound, and there were even the sounds of sirens as they drew closer and closer to them. At first they panicked but it was set aside as it was part of the plan.

"Time for us to entertain them." Draco smiled as he began to strip naked in the street and make his transformation into his dragon form.

The first round of cars sped around the corner directly to them at speeds that would equal or even rival those of drag racers.

"My turn." Sailor Neptune said as she brought her hands together interlocking her fingers as the water spurted out of them like a highly pressured leak. She opened up her hands and a small tidal wave of water washed over the coming cars sweeping them away like spiders down the kitchen sink. The flow of water from Sailor Neptune's hands stopped and the waters receded leaving the cars toppled and piled upon one another.

"And a little something to slow them down." Sailor Mercury stepped up to the challenge. She laid her hand into the waters and as instantly as they had appeared, the waters turned into ice. It began to spread outward to the cars that Neptune had toppled and with the coming ice they froze into place. Mercury took her hand away from the newly formed ice admiring her own powers as the Obsessed tried to get free of their icy prison.

"Let's keep going." Draco said as the Decoy Team ran through the streets with the Obsessed at their heels not knowing at all what they were going up against.

000

Back inside the Defiant, Talbot Kyros came down to meet the rest of the Earth Forces. He gave them all a short once-over glance as he asked a simply question to them all.

"You all know what to do, right?" He asked to them

"Yes." They all answered back with great confidence

"Then let's go for it." Talbot said as he waved his hand and the back door of the Defiant opened. As it did the remaining members of the Earth Forces caught a very good and strong whiff of the polluted city air. It was something that they only had a small scent of when they waited in the doll factory on the cities outskirts, but the potency was staggering as it filled their noses.

They all piled out onto the street in front of the Troy Tower. Instinctively as well as on a collective mentality they all looked up at the marvelous height and stature of the building. Even the Peace Guns had to marvel at it because they had never seen anything like it, not even the Project Seeds ships were like them. After a moments stare and gawk they brought their attention down to Talbot who stood in the center of them like a fire surrounded by campers.

"Good luck to all of you." He said as he squatted downward as if he had just landed upon his two feet and quickly stood back up again and it was with that motion that Talbot Kyros rocketed upward to the sky. He flew around like a distant bird until he vanished from sight.

On the ground, the Earth Forces proceeded with their plan. Wolfwood already brought out his famous Cross-Punisher weapon into its gatling gun position, while Millie brought out her stun-gun, Meryl with her Derringers, Vash and Knives with their guns. Even the Lupin Crew got out their guns and weapons ready for what they would face in the Tower.

"I don't want you to kill anyone!" Vash said to Wolfwood hoping his request would reach the others.

"Is he serious?" Lupin asked

"I'm afraid he is." Wolfwood moaned

"In that case, shoot to wound." Gandalf advised, "if one of the Obsessed is wounded they won't become an agent, which would be quite a bother for us. And if they're not killed they won't become a wraith either."

"Let's go in." Wolfwood said as he stepped up to the front revolving door of the Troy Tower. After stepping through the door he saw a security screening area with metal detectors. He stood there waiting for everyone else to catch up with him as he held his Cross-punisher over his shoulder.

Armand came up to Wolfwood's side along with the Gunsmith Cats. The four of them looked to the metal detectors as well as the security guards around them.

"Wait here." He said to the others and stepped through the screening area.

The soft buzzer of the detector sounded and one of the security guards came over to Wolfwood with a small plastic bin and a metal detector wand and said to Wolfwood in a very bored tone:

"Please remove any small metal items your carrying, keys, loose change…"

Wolfwood took the triggering mechanism to where it opened up his hand gun storage compartments in the horizontal bars. In a swift blurred motion, Wolfwood pulled out one of his guns and aimed it straight at the pudgy security guard who uttered in his shocked amazement.

"Holy shit…"

"Close enough." Wolfwood answered back as he shot him but he was careful that time to only wound them so that he wouldn't be too much of a bother.

With the other security guards watching, Wolfwood turned and fired a few more shots at the remaining few. Of course, there was one that had gotten away. He dodged behind one of the pillars with his two-way radio to his lips gasping for help.

"Backup." He uttered hoping that he wouldn't be spotted by the insane gunmen, but his hopes were shattered when the metal detector buzzed again and in came another man. The guard didn't even have a good look at him as he made the shot.

All the guards were out of the way as Wolfwood got his Cross-punisher back onto his shoulder and Armand rearmed himself.

"Simple enough." Wolfwood commended.

"Too simple." Armand answered back, as he loaded up his gun

A nearby door slammed open with a rush of footsteps coming from it like water out of a flood gate. Armand and Wolfwood looked and saw men dressed in heavy armor and artillery. They stampeded like cattle to their positions behind the pillars of the main hall of the Troy Tower. They cocked their guns giving Wolfwood and Armand one and only one ultimatum.

"Freeze!" One of the Swat members shouted at them.

Wolfwood switched his Cross-punisher to its Gattling Gun position and from behind his black lens sunglasses he gave his answer back to the Swat Team.

"No." He smirked as he and Armand dashed behind the pillars and conducted their barrage. Their bullets flying out and hitting their targets dead on, but amazingly enough (like Vash the Stampede before them) no one had died from their great attack. The two of them were like juggernauts with their guns, completely unstoppable. It was only less than a minute when all was quiet once again. All that was left in that hall were bullet casings, shattered marble tiling, and the guards with the Swat injured on the messy floor.

Wolfwood and Armand stepped over them and back to the metal detectors, all the while, checking on their guns.

"It's all clear now." Wolfwood called as the rest of the Earth Forces came through the metal detectors and stepped gingerly over the debris and injured men.

"Was all that really necessary?" Vash asked as they headed for the elevator.

Boarding it Loki answered back, "I know one thing, the janitor's gonna be pissed."

000

On board the elevator, Armand, Wolfwood, as well as Minnie-May of the Gunsmith Cats were preparing for their task that awaited them on the forty-fifth floor. Armand and Wolfwood were simply reloading their weapons, but May was constructing a "small" bomb. Small is usually a very loose tem when it comes to the Gunsmith Cat Minnie-May Hopkins. The phrase of self-control doesn't seem to be practical to her, that when she uses her bombs a little more bang is always a good thing. That was except for the poor bastard on the receiving end of it. So, Armand had to continually remind Minnie-May of what their target is like telling a psychotic hunter to kill one deer and not the whole heard.

As those three prepared, Loki began to tear at his shirt. Of course, it did attract a lot of attention, at least form those who didn't know the warrior thoroughly.

"Hey, I'm all for a guy taking his shirt off" Fujiko began, "but I hardly think that this is the right time."

"That's not what I'm doing." Loki said slightly annoyed at Fujiko's assumptions, "I'm preparing for my turn."

He ripped his shirt completely off to reveal golden armor underneath. It was tempered to fit the muscular physique of the man underneath. With metallic shoulder plates that seemed to have a small resemblance to claws and a chain mail that wrapped around his neck. Then to top it all off, Loki made a position that looked like he was stretching the muscles in his back, but that was when something sprouted. From Loki's back came a pair of wings, white feathered angel wings that spread outward from one side of the elevator to the next, that was until Loki brought them back to a relaxed position.

"I knew you had the face of an angel" Fujiko gawked at Loki, "But I had no idea."

"Neither did any of us, Fuji." Lupin agreed

"Oh, we knew." Gandalf said, "Loki as well as Bartleby have those wings."

"Yup." Loki agreed, "But its like Armand once said, how did that one go? Not all angels have wings…"

"Some of them have great legs." Armand finished Loki's quotation as he cocked his reloaded guns.

"Oh yeah, I'll agree to that." Lupin said as his eyes slowly ogled Fujiko's figure

"Let's stay focused, shall we?" Loki asked as he looked up at the dial as it slowly approached forty-five, floor by floor. Armand had opened up his small guitar case and handed Loki one of his guns he had. However, Loki wasn't exactly satisfied with it since the gun was about the size of one of Meryl's Derringers.

"This one isn't exactly me, Armand." Loki shook his head, "It may be a little more compact than my flaming sword but it doesn't have that wrathful edge to it. How'd you expect me to fight the Agents with this little thing?"

"Hmm," Armand said to himself as he rooted around in his guitar case and brought out two enormous looking guns. They were the kind of models that rivaled Vash and Knives revolvers, but instead of a six-bullet chamber it had a twenty-bullet clip.

"Now, that's more like it." Loki smiled as he stuffed the guns into his pants belt.

"You might also want to take this." Armand advised as he gave Loki one beam saber

Loki took it and slipped it down into his pocket and looked back up at the dial to see that it was about to start a new round once they reached the forty-fifth floor. By the time that the dial had reached forty nearly all the members of the team squeezed to either side of the elevator car. That was with the exception of Loki who took out his guns from his belt, cocked them both, and held them at his side as the elevator reached its destination.

DING!

The elevator doors opened to a long hallway with its economy carpet, minimal fluorescent lighting, evenly spaced doors, and three agents guarding the door at eh end of the hallway. All three of them dressed in exactly the same suits, hair cuts, sunglasses, and ear pieces. If they Lupin Crew were looking out and down the hallway they would have recognized one of them immediately. For it was the very agent who wanted to bring them to his master, alive, Agent Smith who looked down the hallway to the one standing inside the elevator. He grimaced angrily at him thinking back to all those failures that the Seven Guards slipped through his fingers.

"Hiya fellas." Loki smiled as he opened fire on the Agents. Of course the agents dodged the bullets leaving them to hit nothing but the walls and door behind them. As they dodged Loki called out to them in a half-laughing and almost maniacal manner, "Don't dodge! Don't dodge!"

He approached the Agents with one step after another sending out his bullets against them. Still, it seemed useless since they were hitting everything else except his desired targets. Yet, Loki knew better than this, he wasn't about to waste any of his bullets, and with the agents dodging Loki looked to the door at his right. He slammed his shoulder into it, breaking his way into the empty room as he called out to the others.

"Your turn, Gandalf!" Loki shouted.

The Agents paused and looked at one another, thinking that someone would have some kind of information. As they looked to each other, the lights in the hallway dimmed as something moved out of the elevator. They looked from behind their darkly tinted sunglasses to see a blinding light coming from the elevator that seemed to have a small resemblance to a person. The head of the trio, Agent Smith, took off his sunglasses to see the radiant personage of one of the Seven Guards, Gandalf the White.

"…No…" Smith grimaced again

Gandalf raised his white staff over his head that sent out an even brighter white light like the beam that goes round and round from a light house. The agents felt their eyes begin to burn within their sockets despite the sunglasses and no matter how painful it was or how much they wanted, they couldn't turn away from it. They felt like moths being drawn into a bug-zapper on someone's porch in summer about to be fried to a crisp.

"You may precede, my friend." Gandalf spoke aloud to his friend Loki who was still hiding in that empty room while Gandalf was working his magic. He knew that he had at least three bullets left, which should be enough for that triad in the hallway. Loki got back to his feet and went back into the hallway where Gandalf's spell made all the other lights in the hallway seem dim. He wasted no time as he made the shot, one…two…three. The Agents dropped straight tot the floor, their visage fading away to security guards like the ones that were injured down in the main hall, all three of them nursing the wounds that they had.

"All clear!" Loki called out as Gandalf's spell dimmed, the lights returned to normal, and the rest of the Earth Forces came out of the Elevator. They approached Gandalf and Loki who went to the door that the Agents were guarding, which was riddled with bullet holes like the walls around it that exposed its dry wall underneath its paint. Loki reached out and turned the door knob, but it was locked, despite the damage that he inflicted upon it during the attack.

"I believe this is where you come in." Loki smiled referring to the Lupin Crew

Lupin looked at the door then to the Samurai, Goemon Ishikawa, "I think this is more your forte," Lupin smiled as he bowed presenting the door to Goemon like a squire presenting his knight to the royal court.

Goemon looked at the door and took his stance, "Stand back, everyone."

No one asked any questions as to why; they simply took those few steps back to allow Goemon to do what he does best, the art of Iai or Samurai Quick-Draw. He took the stance he almost always takes and in lightning quick speeds he had already drawn his sword, the Zantetsuken, hacked through the door, and was sheathing it. As his sword clicked back into its wooden casing, the door fell away into pieces as if it were made of flimsy cardboard. Goemon stood back up admiring that his blade and his skills never seem to loose their edge.

The Earth Forces stepped over the injured security men, cut pieces of the door, and into a darkened room that was said to be the Communication Hub. Inside the room they saw a massive confusion of technological chaos. Wires ran from one side of the room to the other, sometimes straight and other times swerving and entangling each other like snakes during mating season. While along the walls were tall boxes strewn with wires each one having iridescent colors of blue, green, amber, and red. In the center there were piles of televisions stacked upon one another like the pyramids of Egypt. Every single screen was showing something different as if they were eyes that saw different places at the same time.

"So, now it's my turn." Minnie-May said as she brought out the bomb that she was constructing back inside the elevator. It wasn't anything really fancy especially for a job like this, just some plastic explosives with a remote detonator on it. She set the bomb to arm and held the detonator in her hand, "Let's move." She said to the others.

They walked as far away from the Hub room as possible, which was to the end of the hall and down into the emergency stair well. They went down an extra floor just to be safe from the coming explosion. No one said a word as Minnie-May Hopkins flipped the switch of her remote detonator. They felt a sharp blast followed by a rough rumble as the shockwave washed over them.

"Alright, Gandalf." Loki spoke, "I think its time to begin Phase 2."

Gandalf stood up and raised his staff high above his head where the head of it began to blaze with a bright green color like a neon sign in Las Vegas. It grew and grew until like a bullet, the light fired straight upward through the staircase, out of the building, and to the sky.

000

Out over the putrid and murky lake that surrounded the island where the Dark Tower stood. The still cloaked Novastorm hovered waiting for the sign to come. It was nerve wracking for the bridge crew because the possibility of being spotted was still very real. That's one thing Misato learned in her combat experience, that nothing is invulnerable or is an ultimate weapon. There is always a snag somewhere.

As Misato sat waiting, her heart pounding, she thought to herself that more than anything she could have used a beer. Just one can would have been nice, just to take the edge off of all the waiting. The again, the pilots sitting inside their Gundams on the platform system felt the agonizing annoyance of waiting. It seemed that the battle would be so much better if the waiting were cut out of it. Those usually are the worst things to go through in life, being rushed and waiting.

Bunny, the Operations Manager felt herself starting to drift into sleep but she then saw something in the distance on the screen. Her control panels began to beep at her and she knew what it all meant.

"Major Katsuragi!" Bunny called, "I got light, I see green light! The Earth Forces have completed their mission!"

"Open both Catapult doors!" Misato quickly ordered

"Aye!" Janet acknowledged, "Opening both Catapult doors!...Doors opened!"

"Launch Preventer Gundams!" Misato ordered

"Launching Preventer Gundams! Aye!" Janet Acknowledged as she sent the control commands down through the bowels of the ship and to the catapults.

Outside the doors to the Catapults opened and the Preventer Gundams launched like cannon balls out into the air above the Dark Tower. While the more aerial of them flew above and around it, the heavier ones stayed on the ground of the Dark Towers Island as they waited for the battle to begin.

From the sour lake around the Dark Tower, came mobile suits. They rose out from under the water like zombies rising out of a swamp in some horror movie. The Preventers managed to get a very good look at them all and they saw that they were painted a dull green and were oddly shaped. Particularly around the head that was domed with one single red camera lens for an eye that made them look like a legion of Cyclopes. Yet, as they rose out they were only armed with machine guns, the Preventers already felt victorious as the attack began with the Gundam Wing Zero and Ryu attacking them with swift and deadly force.

Except the Tallgeese III, inside Zechs Marquise looked among the oddly shaped mobile suits and saw one that was painted red. He couldn't explain it at first but he felt himself become compelled to fight. He felt compelled to fight that red one amongst the other dull green mobile suits, until a transmission came in for all the Preventer mobile suits. It came in on a small window on their MTS screens; they saw a man dressed in a highly clad red, black, and gold uniform, which had the same shade of red as the red mobile suit on the battlefield. Yet, the thing that struck the deepest chord with Zech's was what this man was wearing. Upon the man's face was a mask, one that was both oddly shaped like a battle helmet with horns that looked like the antennas of a Gundam as well as the mask that Zech's Marquise wore back in the year A.C. 195. He felt a deeper burning sensation to fight this man and Zechs already knew that this masked man was piloting the red mobile suit.

"This is Char Anzabar," the masked man spoke to the Preventer Gundams, "of the Obsessed Mobile Suit Army. Surrender now and give up your Gundams or die!"

Zechs Marquise saw Char Anzabar as a cocky upstart, especially from behind that mask he had. He narrowed his eyes at him and gave the answer that spoke for all the Preventers.

"Never…" Zechs snarled as he pushed his body and the Tallgeese III across the lake where he engaged the red mobile suit. The two of them took to the sky while the other Preventers on the ground and over the lake fought the Obsessed Mobile Suit Army.

As Char fought Zechs, he had something to say to him, "The art of war is deception. First, you must strike when your opponent least expects; in a place where he believes is strong, but is in fact weak; with an army he believes he has already vanquished."

"I disagree." Zechs said back as he wrapped the heat rod around Char's mobile suit, "I am not weak anywhere because I am a strong soldier, while you are weak hiding behind that mask! Only one man could wear that mask and his name is Zechs Marquise!"

"We'll see about that!" Char answered back but did it too zoon as Zech's used his heat rod to throw the red mobile suit to the waters below.

000

Back on the Novastorm, the bridge crew saw that they could begin their own part of Operation Trojan.

"Begin Orbital Launch Sequence!" Misato ordered

"Starting Orbital Launch." Bunny acknowledged

"All engines to maximum thrust." Cathy reported

On the main screen the bridge crew watched as they felt the Novastorm take a high angle and pierced through the clouds. Beyond the clouds they saw the blue sky and with each step of elevation they took, Bunny announced where they were.

"Passing through the ionosphere." She announced as the Novastorm continued to climb upward through the blue sky that slowly turned black, "Passing through outer ionosphere."

Just then everything seemed to feel so much lighter to the crew as if they had just gone into water and were starting to feel the floating effects of it.

"Entering orbital space." Bunny reported, "Activating artificial gravity."

And just like that, the crew felt their own body weight returning to them as if the water underneath them had been taken away and gravity took its place.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Major!" Janet called out, "Multiple enemy ships off the port bow."

"Let's see it." Misato quickly ordered and the main screen switched from empty black space to an area filled with all kinds of ships. They couldn't see the smaller ones, but what they saw were large triangular shaped ships surrounding a great gray cube that had spherical indentations on every face of its surface as it spun in the emptiness of space.

"Major." Janet called, "The computer has identified the enemy ships. There are fifteen Star Destroyers, three super Star Destroyers, and the Cube is the Central Obsessed Space Station. According to the records, Star Destroyers can hold a complement of two-hundred small fighters each, while the Super Star Destroyers can hold six-hundred."

Bunny spoke up, "It seems that we're severely outnumbered. It'd take an act of God to help us."

"Acts of men are better than acts of God." Misato refuted, "Prepare all Novastorm weapons and begin to fire on my command. Prep our remaining complement of ships and mobile suits. Then open both catapult doors and launch everything we have left."

"Yes, ma'am." Janet smiled knowing that she liked Misato even more with how fiery her spirit was, just like Shirley.

"All remaining ships and mobiles suits are ready, Ma'am." Janet reported, "Catapult doors one and two open and ready to launch, all weapons are ready waiting for your command."

Misato didn't hesitate, "Launch ships and mobile suits!"

"Launching, Aye!" Janet acknowledged as the command was sent down to the Catapults.

Of course, those who were down there were certainly ready for the coming battle. Even though Shinji and Asuka were piloting two of the Arrowhead fighters, there were still the remaining twenty, which they would also pilot. When they were briefed about this, the two of them had to ask how could they pilot the other twenty if they were already piloting two of them? It was explained that the two of them would wear a special device that would synchronize with their brainwaves. Similar to the sync-nodes that they used for the Eva's but unlike the Eva, the flight-sync will send the brainwaves on a wireless network to the other ships set to said pilots brainwaves. This would allow the pilot to fly their own ship as well as fly the other ships as well. The only catch is that depending upon the strength of the pilots brainwaves it would dictate how many ships can be sustained. In the case of Asuka and Shinji, they can both handle ten Arrowhead fighters each.

With the command sent the remaining mobile suits and ships launched; the Shuffle Alliance Gundams, the Preventer Teen Gundams, the Outlaw Star, and the Arrowhead Fighters. As they jetted out each of them looked at the number of enemies that they had to fight.

"Dear God," Leto Rodriguez uttered over the COM link in his Gundam Fox, "There are so many of them."

"Don't loose faith." William Maxwell advised his friend, "When there's a will, there's a way, and our will is too hardened to give up this easily."

"Where's the Novastorm?" Gene Starwind asked aboard the Outlaw Star

"They must still be cloaked." Jim deduced, "And that'll give us an edge."

"In that case," Asuka smirked from her Arrowhead, like she did before in her Eva Unit 02, "Let's go in there and defeat them!"

"I like this girls way of thinking." Asia grinned, "She could easily pass for a Ctarl-Ctarl."

"Then it's settled." Domon Kasshu finalized, "All forces attack!"

Yet, the attack didn't truly begin until Misato gave her first battle order back on the bridge of the Novastorm.

"Janet." She called, "Fire at will."

000

Back down on the planet in the clouds over the lands of Mydar, Talbot Kyros flew his way to the Dark Tower. As he passed over the lake he could clearly see the battle starting between the Preventer Gundams and the Obsessed mobile suits that were called, "Zakus".

"Typical Dark Eagle." He muttered to himself as he went along his way back to the Dark Tower where his enemy was.

On his approach he didn't waste time as he came to the balcony of his won workroom. It must have been years since that day long ago when Dark Eagle came to his tower saying how much he admired his work. Vanity, it seems to be the greatest flaw to being an author, at least that's what Talbot thought when he entered the workroom seeing that it was empty. He thought back to how Dark Eagle sprung his trap over him under the guise of admiration. As he went back to his desk where the chains he wore for decades still sat, the hatred that he had burned even deeper into him like a case of heartburn that he didn't want to stop.

He sat down in his chair and looked to his left to see the pile of black pages that sat at the far left side of the desk and his breathing peeling away more of the blackened paper. The very story that Dark Eagle asked…no, asked seems to be too gentle of a word…Dark Eagle forced him to write it, like the countless others he forced Talbot to do. Taking his attention away from it for a moment, he looked into the top right hand drawer of the small filing cabinet of the desk and pulled out stacks of paper he called his "originals".

They were stories that would hopefully bring him fame, bring him up to the level of his masters before him, the ones who had achieved their fame through their great craft. As they thought about his imprisonment, he tried to think of how many years he had been in the tower as he flipped through the pages of his originals.

"Seventy years." Talbot said to himself as he restacked his originals and slipped them back into the filing drawers.

"Seventy years?" A voice behind him asked

Talbot bolted right up and out from his chair with a look and posture of a man about to take on a fight. He looked and there he was, the man that he wanted to face, Dark Eagle. His clothes were a stark contrast to what he wore the day Talbot escaped. He was wearing a suit, one that was half black and half white, both colors alternating from one side to the other form the jacket, to the shirt, to the tie, and to the pants. It was also a stark contrast to what Talbot had a black suit with a long jacket that reached down to his knees. Talbot looked at Dark Eagle with such contemptible hatred for him.

"That's right." Talbot repeated himself, "You've kept me prisoner here in my own home for seventy years. Do you have the faintest idea of how long that is? DO YOU!? Of course not, because you've been living comfortably off of my home, my lands, and my talent, like a parasitic leech never being satisfied. All because you said you were my biggest fan and the fact you couldn't do any of it yourself. But it's changed now, I'm rising up against you, right now my army is taking down yours and I must say that they're doing a wonderful job of it."

"You…" Dark Eagle was about to speak, his eyes filled with rage and hatred. Especially when Dark Eagle reminded himself that Talbot burned the only copy of the story he forced him to write.

"Don't try any of your tricks on me now!" Talbot snarled, "They won't work on me anymore!"

Talbot reached under his coat for the very weapon that he had asked his guard Armand to build. He brought it out and displayed it in his fighting posture. It was a double-ended beam saber or saber staff. As he held it in that position he extended both beams that shimmered in green.

"Still using that rip-off." Dark Eagle grimaced

"Your one to talk, with the rip-offs you've done." Talbot answered back, "Then again, that's how I got the drop on you."

Dark Eagle looked confused at him, "How?"

"Cloaking devices." Talbot answered with such a great grin on his face as if the war had already won in his favor, "I knew you would never expect me to do that. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to free my world…by killing you."

Dark Eagle narrowed his eyes at Talbot as he reached into his coat and pulled out his own beam saber, he extended its red blade at Talbot, but the king was much cleverer than that. He dashed and flipped over his desks to the balcony where he waited for his nemesis.

"Come and fight me out here, Dark Eagle!" Talbot challenged, "Unless you need someone to do it for you!"

Dark Eagle roared as he jumped over the balcony and met with Talbot's terms. Floating in the air the two of them began to fight back and forth exchanging blows with their beam sabers as they flew into the skies over Mydar.

000

The war for the Tower raged on in the streets of Nash, above the great lake, in the clouds, and among the stars. All of them fighting furiously to achieve their won victory. For the Earth Forces in Nash, it seemed hopeless until from the west came the entire Fremin army ready to take down the Obsessed with the weapons that they had. From the east came the Elvish warriors of Riverden, and they too were ready to aid the Fellowship of the One in their struggle against the Obsessed.

The struggle over the lake was continuing on as well, yet when it seemed that the Preventers were winning more of the Zaku mobile suits kept coming out of the lake. The fight itself seemed to be taking one step forward and two steps back, but they couldn't loose hope that the battle and the war would soon be won.

In space though, the battle there seemed more and more bleak. At first the Space Forces felt confident about their fight against the Obsessed in space. Yet, they met them with swift and very resistant force. The only thing that really gave balance to the battle was the cloaked Novastorm, which with some technological enhancements could fire its weapons while cloaked. In the short time that the battle had begun, the Novastorm had managed to take out seven of the Star Destroyers and two of the Super Star Destroyers. Yet, it was the forces that were going up against the fighters; there must have been thousands of them. The Arrowheads piloted by Shinji and Asuka managed about half of them, but the other half were quite slippery in their tactics.

Then something happened, the Space Forces looked in horror as the cube floating in the center of the Obsessed forces began to glow. It was starting to gather white light in one of the spherical indentations on one of its faces. That's when it occurred to everyone that those indentations on the cube were large cannons, but the even more terrifying unknown factor was where it was aiming. The answer was quickly given after the cube had fired. IT didn't hit any of the Space Forces, but their eyes followed the beam to its impact where they saw sparks going across a non-existent hull.

"They've hit the Novastorm!" Jim shouted

Back on the bridge of the Novastorm, the effects of the attack were far, far worse.

"Major!" Bunny called out, "They've made a direct hit! Hull breeches on decks fourteen and fifteen! Our cloak is failing!"

"Disengage the cloaking device!" Misato ordered, "Raise the shields and continue to fire! We may have lost our edge but we won't loose the battle or the war!"

From the outside, the Space Forces watched as the Novastorm lost its cloak and was fully exposed to the enemy. To Domon Kasshu, he decided that it was time to take out the Obsessed edge.

"Outlaw Star! Arrowheads!" He called, "Can you hold off the Obsessed for a while on your own?"

"How long of a while are we talking?" Shinji asked

"Ten minutes." Domon estimated

"You have five!" Gene Starwind compromised, "Now, go do what you plan to do!"

"Right." Domon said back, "All Gundams follow me!"

The Shuffle Alliance and the Preventer Teens followed Domon's God Gundam over the battlefield, past the Star Destroyers and directly to the cube itself. Domon only had one reason for this, it was the idea that loosing the battle, the war, and the way home were very real.

"What do you plan to do, Domon?" Chibodee asked

"We're gonna blow up the cube from the inside." Domon explained

"I get it." Hikaru agreed, "Since we've lost the cloaking device on the Novastorm, we'll take out their best weapon."

"Exactly." Domon confirmed, "We've just got to get inside."

"Leave that to me." Julia volunteered, "They'll never catch me, because I'm the Star Arrow!"

The Gundam Falcon that Julia piloted transformed into its bird mode and jetted its way across the face of the cube in a great blur like a shooting star. The rest of the Gundams were shocked and surprised at the great speeds she moved. Going across the cubes surface and no one being able to keep up with her, she truly did live up to her own boast of being the unmatchable Star Arrow.

By the time that the Shuffle Alliance and the rest of the Preventer Teens reached the cube, Julia had returned.

She quickly said, "I found a way! Follow me!"

No one had asked any questions, they simply followed the Gundam Falcon to a great exhaust vent at the top of the cube. Some of the little fighters that the Star Destroyers launched tried to keep up with them, even inside the inner bowels of the cube with all the pipes and wires. Sometimes they would crash into the walls and pipes while others simply crashed into each other. None of it was any concern to those Gundams going in, because they knew that it would be the greatest blow that they could strike.

After minutes of going through the maze of pipes, they had finally come to their goal. They came to a great area where all the pipes were coming to meet each other like two halves of an hour glass meeting together. It was clear to them that it was the reactor, the very source of energy for the great weapon that was used on the Novastorm.

"Everyone!" Domon called, "Send your attacks against that generator in the center!"

"No problem." Hikaru acknowledged as the barrage of attacks began, "PHEONIX FLAME!"

"DEATHS HAND!" William Maxwell called

"HAIL STORM!" Paul Marquise shouted

"FALCON'S ARROW!" Julia Rodriguez screamed

"FOX MIRAGE!" Leto cried out

"ANGEL'S FURY!" Kaworu Nagisa shouted

"BAKANETSU GOD FINGER!" Domon Kasshu called for his attack

"BURSTING MACHINE GUN PUNCH!" Chibodee shouted as he punched  
"ROSE HURRICANE!" George DeSand called

"GAEA CRUSHER!" Argo Gulski cried out as he threw his gravitron hammer

"SHIN RYUUSEI KOCHOUKEN!" Sai-Saici called as the Butterfly Wings appeared

"BEAUTIFUL DANGEROUS HOOP!" Allenby announced as she cracked her beam whip.

All the attacks came down upon the reactor and the chain reaction began to start. With that the Shuffle Alliance and the Preventer Teens made their way out leaving the Obsessed Space Station to explode to scrap. While down below on the lands of Mydar everyone got a chance to witness another blow against the Obsessed.

000

The battle field over the waters of the lake that surrounded the Dark Tower Island saw the explosion in the sky. It was so much that all of them had stopped in the middle of their fights; just to look up to the sky to see it happen.

The fight between Zechs Marquise and Char Anzabar had raged on for a full fifteen minutes, both of them fighting their hardest against one another. Only that their skills were such that for the whole battle they simply equaled one another. It had become frustrating for them both wanting to vanquish the other but getting no closer to the goal; a true Sisyphean battle.

Though as the battle raged, the Gundam pilot, Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez felt very, very different, he knew that whatever powers Talbot had had spilled into him but in his fight against the Zaku's, his senses felt different.

"I can feel them." He said to himself, but as he did he rose the Gundam Ryu above the battle, with his friends shouting wondering just what in the hell he was doing. Yet, their pleas were blocked out by the new sensations that Johan was feeling. To him, the Zaku mobile suits were like stones that he could pick up and throw away; at least that's what it was starting to feel like to him. He reached out his hand with the Zaku's battling his friends below. With his mind stretched out to new levels on consciousness and the force of his will, the Zaku's stopped dead, not a single one of them could move.

Even Char Anzabar in his red Zaku furiously tried to move the controls, but it was of no use, they were unresponsive.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked furiously hoping that it was just a small glitch in his mobile suit. To him, he always felt invincible, that there was no enemy that he couldn't take down, until these Gundams came along. Just like being the neighborhood bully or thug and then someone else moves in and starts to do a hostile takeover with their fists. That was something that Char wasn't going to stand for, he'd be damned if he was going to loose to this asshole named Zechs Marquise. He shook the controls even harder but his mobile suit still didn't move.

"Damn you!" Char cursed

"Now's your chance, everyone!" Johan called out to the other Preventers, "Attack with all you have!"

"Works for me!" Duo cried out as he began his attack on the Zaku's with his beam scythe, along with the others. Heero you vaporized them with his buster rifle, Trowa firing out his bullets and missiles at the enemy, and all the Preventers came down on the Obsessed Mobile Suit with force they hadn't felt in so long since they began the quest. As the Preventers went to work on the Zaku's, Zechs decided to finish his bout with Char Anzabar. He brought about his mega cannon and aimed it directly at the floating and paralyzed red Zaku.

"Char Anzabar." Zechs sneered as he called out to his worthy foe, "You've waged a valiant fight, but only one man could wear that Mask of Shame…and his name was Zech's Marquise…Good-bye Char."

It was rather two faced that Zechs seemed to both hate as well as have respect for Char. It seemed to be very much in the same way that Zechs respected Heero Yuy, but then again Heero never wore a mask like his. Without hesitation, Zechs pulled the trigger for his Mega cannon sending out the destructive beam, destroying the red Zaku, and killing the pilot named Char Anzabar.

000

In the blue skies over Mydar among the white clouds that swirled high above the Dark Tower, the last battle still wore on between Talbot Kyros and Dark Eagle. The two of them flying over the clouds like supermen and swinging their beam sabers at one another like samurai. Though, Dark Eagle knew that Talbot had the upper hand since he was using the saber staff which allowed him to make extra swipes. It meant that Dark Eagle would have to stay on his toes even more than before and he was well aware of what was at stake for him, not only his life but the talents of Talbot which were as a valuable commodity as gold. Thinking of loosing Talbot wasn't something he was going to allow. As Dark Eagle fought back, there was a great rumble above them, and the two of them stopped to look and they saw a great fireball starting to dissipate in the blue sky.

Talbot smiled as he looked back at his enemy, "What's wrong, Dark Eagle?" He asked rather mockingly, "Can't you hear your spies telling you your loosing the war?"

Dark Eagle floated in front of him, "I can't hear them. What are you doing up there?"

"From the size of the explosion, I would say that they blew up that rip-off cube of yours." Talbot assessed as he looked at Dark Eagle whose face crinkled with such anger and fury. Even his face was becoming red like the blade he had in his hands.

"Damn you." Dark Eagle cursed as he took up his beam saber and started his attack back on Talbot Kyros.

The King of Mydar grinned as they locked together in their fight of sabers.

"If I had my cyborgs, Terminators, and Techno-Wraiths here, they'd put you in your place." Dark Eagle spat

"Yeah, always depending on others to do what you want to do." Talbot refuted, "And where would they put me? Back as your slave? I don't think so, not this time…but it's rather funny because I should thank you, because I've grown so much stronger over the past seventy years in my craft because of your imprisonment over me."

"Then why are you fighting me?" Dark Eagle grunted slashing and hacking his blade at his enemy.

"Because, I would never become my own author being a ghost writer for you" Talbot Explained. "I just want…to be free."

With the two of them in a saber lock, Talbot pushed hard against Dark Eagle. The Obsessed Lord was off balance for a moment, nearly loosing his grip upon his flight abilities. It was then that Talbot saw his opportunity with Dark Eagle flailing his arms around, he raised his saber staff and struck down upon his enemies arm. The arm, hand, and saber came off and fell down to the ground where the mobile suit battle was still being fought. With Dark Eagle disarmed (in more ways than one) Talbot saw his freedom within his reach. He deactivated one end of his saber staff so that he would need only one blade.

He did give Dark Eagle one last look to see how truly pitiful he was, and without any further hesitation, Talbot Kyros struck. His beam saber came through Dark Eagles neck and out the other side. The Obsessed Lords head came cleanly off of his neck when the blade came out the other side. Both head and body fell down, down, down through the clouds to whatever grave awaited him below.

Talbot looked down, deactivated his beam staff, and holstered it back underneath his knee-length coat. He allowed himself to float down through the clouds and down to the lands of Mydar. He saw the Dark Tower was close by and the war amongst the mobile suits was still on, as well as the battle in the City of Nash. In his descent, he came down to the balcony of his workroom. Looking to the south he knew what this called for.

"I'll need a very special spell for this one." He said to himself as he went to his desk

He rummaged through the drawers of blank paper until he came to a small box, at the very bottom of the top left drawer of his desk. The box itself was old and dusty; Talbot gave the dust a solid blow sending the dust into the air and all over the desk. He held it by its sides and allowed the bottom half to slip and fall softly onto his desk. Inside the dusty box was paper, but not just any paper, but golden paper that shimmered as he took out a single sheet. He looked at it for a single moment and got to work with the sounds of explosions in the distance. Reaching up he pulled out a special ink pot and a black and gold trimmed fountain pen. He dipped the pen into it and allowed the pen to soak and suck up the ink.

With the ink in his pen, he proceeded to write the spell. As he wrote, the ink blazed as if the ink were made out of sunlight until it faded and became the words that Talbot desired much like how ink dries on paper. The page was already full with the words that Talbot inscribed; he got out of his chair with the pen and paper in his hand. He walked out to the stone balcony and set the paper down with its blank unwritten side up. He took the pen and made that curly-q symbol on the gold sheets back. The ink blazed for a moment and then dried until all the ink on the page began to glow and like water, it puddle in the center of the page.

Talbot allowed the wind to carry the paper up to the sky and the clouds where it grew brighter and brighter like a miniature sun. There amongst the clouds, it exploded into a great tear where its diamond shape sharply contrasted in its black center against the blue sky. Inside there was a swirling like a whirlpool of black and white clouds.

"Go back home." Talbot whispered

He stood on his balcony as he witnessed his very special spell work its magic. From all around, things were being pulled into the black tear. The mobile suits from the lake both the damaged and brand-new, they flew up into the tear and were swallowed by its darkness. All of them swirling round and round and round into nothingness. Even though Talbot never saw it with his limited vision, but he knew that there were people going into the tear. It was pulling in all of the Obsessed into itself, the machines, the people, and creatures that they brought with them. It even brought down the ships from space into its very depths, like the mouth of a ravenous monster that had the greatest appetite in all creation. Until the tear closed in upon itself like a door that was being shut forever, it shrunk and closed leaving behind just the blue sky, but Talbot knew that this was only half of the spell.

The best place to see the rest of the spell do its work would have been anywhere in Mydar, as long as it could see the Tower itself. Either on the island itself, in the City of Nash, or at the tops of the Misty Mountains, but it was from those vantage points that anyone could see the exterior of the Tower change. The black shell was chipping away like old paint and falling to the ground like rain revealing the true form of the tower underneath. Under the black crust of the Dark Tower was a bright radiance like coral in the tropical sun under the surface of the shallow waters. For the Dark Tower, the effects can be seen from all around as well as up close, where it was being restored to its old glory…the glory that was the Ivory Tower.

With the restoration of the tower, everyone who could see it knew that all would be well once again in the lands of Mydar, because the Obsessed were banished, and the true king had returned.

To be continued…


	23. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

**Notice to Readers:** To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

**The ****Dark********Tower******

**Anime's**** Unite**

**Chapter 23: Epilogue**

000

The war had ended; it was finally over for the Fellowship of the One. They had all witnessed the spectacle, the tear that appeared in the sky and pulled in all of the Obsessed, their machines and creatures. All of them were sucked into it as if the tear itself were a black hole, but what really amazed them was what happened to the Dark Tower. Its exterior flaking away to bright ivory and all around them, the world changed.

The sky became bluer, the clouds whiter, the trees and grass greener. Even in the City of Nash, everything changed; the wall that once surrounded the city came down and vanished into nothingness. The streets became new and paved (so did the sidewalks) and the buildings began to shimmer and shine as if they were built yesterday. At first it was thought that it was some kind of miracle when the Seven Guards told the truth that it was the greatest spell of King Talbot Kyros.

After the battle was over all the members in the Fellowship of the One met back at the Ivory Tower as the cities and towns all over Mydar celebrated with song, dance, drink, and fireworks that light up the night sky brighter than the stars. Even at the Ivory Tower, the interior as well as the exterior had been restored to their old glory. The floors were marble white, statues of Goddesses, gods, angels, heroes, and heroines of old literature adorned the spiral ramp up the heights of the tower. Even the islands were the tower sat became greener and richer, while the lake became its glorious blue that it once was.

On the Eve of the Independence Day of Mydar, the Fellowship of the One feasted in the dinning hall, all of them expressing their great relief that the quest, the battle, and the war were finally over. They all shared their won war stories, how the Earth Forces of the Fellowship managed to defeat three agents in order to knock out that communication hum. Then there was the story among the space forces that really worried the children of the Shuffle Alliance as well as the parents of the Preventer Teens. The Preventers talked about fighting the massive forces of Zaku mobile suits including their prize leader and soldier, Char Anzabar.

"Real pain in the ass" Zechs remarked, "But a worthy opponent."

"Shame I couldn't have fought him." Heero added

Then Talbot Kyros spun his story about how he defeated the lord of the Obsessed among the clouds. Talbot had no regrets about killing Dark Eagle, he had to do it, and there really was no choice. Despite all of Vash's prattling about not killing he still couldn't understand Talbot's position on it. It came down to a simple choice, either kill and be free or loose and go back to slavery. Talbot even put it quite bluntly to the members of the Fellowship that if he lost, none of them would be able to get home.

Even that struck a very deep and sentimental chord with the different groups, except the Evangelions. Shinji did think about the prospects and he didn't like the very idea of it. Thinking about his home back on earth in the year 2015, some home it had become, and that was when Shinji made a very important decision of his life, but he wouldn't voice it until later.

The next day after the Independence Day feast, Talbot Kyros took the Fellowship down into the basement of the Ivory Tower. There they were brought to a very special place that King Talbot spoke of, "The Vault". A plain and not too clever name but it sufficed for its purpose.

The door to the vault was enormous with only a single key hole and a non-traditional one at that. It was a vertical and thin rectangle. The only one who had the key was Jake the Key Master who kept the key hidden in a small pouch in the lining of his jacket so that if he were caught, the Obsessed wouldn't have found it.

Jake gave the key to Talbot who opened the great door to the vault. The door sunk into the wall and down into the floor in a movement of mechanical precision. Yet, after the door opened their eyes opened wide to see the treasures that lied beyond. There were mounds and mounds of gold coins piled like sand dunes in the vault, while along the walls were gold bars stacked one on top of the other like bricks for a house. Over the dunes of gold coins were jewels of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and opals with swords that had golden hilts decorated with jewels that stuck out of the gold coin dunes like dead trees.

"Take what you want." Talbot Kyros said to the Fellowship that aided in his freedom.

With that, the members (Apart from the Seven Guards) were like kids in a candy store and everything was free. They all went in with sacks, piling them into their bags, pockets and jackets. Yet, while stepping over the gold coin dunes, they felt the coins dip further down as if the vault was deeper than what was originally thought, which was one question that Lupin had to know the answer to.

"Talbot?" He asked, "How deep is this vault?"  
Talbot cupped his chin, "As I remember building this tower, I think I designed the vault to be 60 feet wide, 70 feet long, and 180 feet deep."

"That explains a lot." Lupin commented as he went back to collecting his own swag from the vault.

Though during the whole event, the only one not getting any of the riches was Inspector Zenigata who stood at the vault door watching Lupin and his crew filling up on their gold and jewels. The Inspector only wished that he had a camera and his men to catch Lupin in the act, but then Bartleby the Spy stated a very valid point to him.

"Technically," he said to Zenigatta, "Its not even theft since our king is giving it to them as well as to you."

"It just doesn't feel right." Zenigatta said

Then Talbot approached him, and gave him a very logical explanation, "I had brought you all here to help me and I do believe that applies to you in your involvement."

Zenigata simply shrugged and then went wild as he piled the gold into his pockets and hat.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day." Lupin smiled as he filled the last of what he could carry into his bag.

000

After the fill of gold, precious stones, and topped off with a good night of rest, it did seem like it was time to go back but there was one request that several couples within the Fellowship made to King Talbot Kyros. There were four couples, Vash the Stampede and Meryl Striffe, Nicolas D. Wolfwood and Millie Thompson, Gene Starwind and Melphina, and then Lupin the Third and Fujiko requested that they be married. The request was strange from Talbot's point-of-view, though he did see something like it for the Peace Gun couples as well as Gene and Melphina, but Lupin and Fujiko? He snorted at the fact that the two of them had been such an on and off relationship and they come to him asking to be married. Wonders really would never cease. ON the other hand with Wolfwood asking to go ahead with a marriage to Millie, it was rather odd since Wolfwood himself was a priest. However, it was that reason that they asked Talbot, because since he was a king he could marry them.

"Good point." Talbot thought to himself, and then smiled at the couples, "Alright, I'll do it. Let's get to the planning."

Planning a wedding with just one bride and groom is usually al large task taking weeks even months, making sure all the details were right. In the case that was given to Talbot Kyros, it was an enormous undertaking especially with not one, but four brides and grooms in the same ceremony. Then again, they never had his magic on their side.

All it took was coming to some agreements as well as designing some dresses and everything was set. It was just with a stroke of his pen that Talbot's magic came through once again. The ceremony was held at the gates of the Ivory Tower amongst the gardens of roses under the very sunny skies.

It was such a beautiful ceremony, the rose bushes in full bloom of such colors as red, white, yellow, orange, and pink. Chairs set up for those attending who looked up at the brides and grooms with admiration and happiness for them.

Vash was dressed in a suit that was a cross between his old red coat and a tuxedo. Wolfwood's simply had a different shirt and the right tie for the occasion while he wore his regular suit jacket (with the crosses on each sleeve) and pants. Gene went traditional with just a plain regular tuxedo. Lupin went completely extravagant with a very high class kind of tux, but that as Lupin. Of course, all the brides wore white (even Fujiko) of all different styles and designs. Meryl's was simple, short train, slightly loose fitting, with a semi-transparent veil. Millie's was somewhat like Meryl's but the train she had was a lot longer. Melphina's was a simply white Chinese silk dress that shimmered in the afternoon sun. Last of all there was Fujiko who had a dress of such extravagance that it would have rivaled Princess Diana's gown when she married Prince Charles. Of course for those four couples, the rings were certain never a problem, for one there were planet of them in Talbot's vault and the fact that he made some for this occasion.

Talbot began the ceremony, "Throughout the ages, love has been such a great guiding force. Even song writers have tried to sum up what love is, its effect over us, its drive for us and why it's there. Some have said that love is like oxygen, love is a many splendid thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love. And here among us we see examples of that great love.

"Do you Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Gene Starwind, and Arsene Lupin the Third, take Meryl Striffe, Millie Thompson, Melphina, and Fujiko Mine to be your wives, to love, honor, cherish, in sickness and health, forsaking all others, till death do you part?"

"I do, with all my heart and soul." Vash answered

"You bet I do." Wolfwood smiled and looked to Millie who kept her gaze forward at the king.

"Without a doubt, I do." Gene said with a smile

"I certainly do." Lupin smirked

"And do you Meryl Striffe, Millie Thompson, Melphina, and Fujiko Mine take Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Gene Starwing, and Aresne Lupin the Third to be your husbands to love, honor, cherish, in sickness and health, forsaking all others, till death do you part?"  
"With all my heart." Meryl said with solemn happiness

"Yes." Millie said in that same childish voice

"I do." Melphina answered

"I do." Fujiko answered

"And now the rings." Talbot instructed, "Place the ring on your partners left hand and say 'with this ring, I thee wed'."

All four couples did exactly that, though the rings for the men were simple gold bands, the women were a little more decorative. Meryl's ring had three stones in it, an oval ruby in the center with two small diamonds on its outer edge. Millie's was very similar, except hers had an oval sapphire instead of a ruby. Melphina's was a very finely cut diamond that sat upon its own in its reflective beauty. Last of all, Fujiko's had three pink diamonds that were cut into the shapes of hearts.

The rings were put on and the lines were spoken.

Talbot started again, "If there is anyone here who thinks that these couples should not be joined together in matrimony then speak now or forever hold your peace."

There was a moment of silence and no one spoke up.

"Then by the power vested in me by God and the Lands of Mydar, I pronounce you all man and wife. You may kiss the brides."

There was no hint needed for that as all the men took their new wives and kissed them with the audience cheering for them. So it was that those four couples were man and wife. Even Vash the Stampede was shedding his own tears of happiness for the day. But they soon dried up when it came time for the cake.

It was such an occasion especially when it came ot the speeches by the best men. In the case of Vash and Wolfwood they were each others best man, while for Gene Starwind it was Jim Hawking, and for Lupin it was Jigen. Of course most of these men didn't exactly have a way with words so the speeches were quite short.

Vash had commented, "It seems that this day proves that this world is made of…LOVE AND PEACE! But seriously, I did have a feeling that Wolfwood would get together with Millie, it doesn't exactly take someone with telepathy to see that."

Wolfwood rebounded Vash's speech, "I can say this and only this to you, my friend Vash the Stampede. It's about time you got together with her, needle noggin!"

Jim Hawking said, "I don't know what to say for the first time in my own life, so I'll say best wishes for you both."

Jigen only said jokingly, "Congratulations Lupin. Now if you can keep her around long enough for the honeymoon!"

Of course, the tossing of the bouquet is always fun to watch. All four of them were tossed and nearly all members of the Sailor Senshi dove for three of them while the fourth one landed in Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus) lap. When that happened she looked to Michiru who only smiled at Haruka, who was starting to blush.

After that it was all over, the time had come for all of them to go back home. Yet, as Talbot pulled out his pen and paper for his tear spell, Shinji stopped him.

"What is it, Shinji?" He asked wondering what was on the Eva pilots mind.

"I do not wish to go back." Shinji said, "I want to stay here."

Talbot completely understood Shinji's request. After all there were so many bad memories in that place, and the world had just become dead, leaving behind only himself and Asuka, at least before they came to Mydar. So, it seemed to be almost an act of cruelty to Talbot if he were to send Asuka, Shinji, and Misato back to that place.

"What about the others?" He asked referring to Misato and Asuka

The two of them approached, "Asuka and me wish to stay as well."

"Very well." Talbot smiled as he wrote the spell, but as he did one of the Gundam Children asked a very important question.

"Will we ever see you again?" Julia Rodriguez asked

Talbot smiled as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "I wish you could, but it's hard to explain my reasons why that won't be possible. Because we all have our own challenges to face, and I have mine here and all of you have your challenges ahead of you. I only hope that you will rise up to face them."

Of course, Julia couldn't grasp Talbot's reasons, but she simply accepted them. She understood that there were reasons for things to happen even though they cannot be understood clearly.

As Talbot continued his spell, there was a tearful farewell between two old friends. It was between Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa. The two of them knew that it would be the very last time that they would even see each other. They hugged each other while they spoke softly.

"I'll miss you, my friend." Shinji wept

"I know, Shinji." Kaworu whispered, "May your days be happy, because the time I was with you, they were among the best. I am glad that I had this one last adventure with you."

Talbot finished writing his spell. He rose and looked at all the members of the Fellowship and felt that ache in his heart that comes when people are forced to leave one another. In that time Talbot could only say one thing as he was about to make his signature symbol on the paper.

"Thank you all, my friends." He said to them, "Thank you all. Farewell and good-bye."

He laid his pen down upon the paper and made the curly-q. He held the paper in his hand high above his head until it began to glow and send out a great flash in which the paper along with all the members of the Fellowship, with the exception of the Seven Guards and the Evangelions, vanished along with their ships and their suits.

"Good-bye." Shinji uttered for Kaworu Nagisa as a single tear fell from his face.

000

In the world of present day Tokyo, where the Sailor Senshi lived, life returned to its staggering normality. The Starlights returned home to where their princess was waiting for them. Though among the Sailor Senshi (at least the Inner Senshi) they couldn't help but reminisce about their adventures in Mydar. At least that was until Usagi's love Momoru Chiba returned from his studies in the United States.

As soon as he returned, all of the Senshi gathered together and hold him about their adventures. First through the tear and to the world of the Preventers and then to the Lands of Mydar, it seemed so incredible that Momoru wondered if Usagi was making it up. Then again, they've faced some weird things in the past before. So he simply sat back ate some treats, drank his tea, and listened.

000

Back in the lands of Mydar, Shinji, Asuka, and Misato stayed behind where they moved to the City of Nash. There Shinji and Asuka began to live their normal life as regular teenagers. Shinji had already entered the music club and had received first chair for his cello. Asuka on the other hand joined the swim and dive teams. Not only was she good at it, but it gave her an excuse to stroll around in a swimsuit. Misato last of all became a teacher at the school, a teacher of history.

Though in their class, Shinji noticed a girl there. A girl with reddish brown hair and hazel eyes, it was on the first day that Shinji and Asuka came to class that this girl turned to him and said:

"Hi!" She smiled brightly, "My name is Mana Kirishima."

Shinji blushed brightly at this girl, because of the way she smiled at him, but it felt so good in the way she was smiling at him. But, little did Shinji know that a few seats behind him, Asuka was looking at the two of them with very spiteful eyes. Though Shinji didn't care because he felt a strong attraction to this girl named Mana Kirishima.

000

In the year F.C. 87, the Shuffle Alliance returned to training for the 20th Gundam fight which would only start in a little over a year. With that prospect hanging over them they trained their hardest and sharpened their skills like knives. Yet, they never forgot about their adventures together and the bond that they had as fighters. Nor did they forget that when the time comes, they would give it their absolute best against one another.

000

Preventer Report:

Officer: Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

Code-name: Preventer Star Dragon

Date: June 28, A.C. 216

Report: All of the Preventer officers as well as the Preventer Teens have returned to our own worlds safely. Our adventures in the Lands of Mydar had been reported by Officer Quatre Raberba Winner. Despite our return and encounter, it is my personal belief that this is the last adventure that the office of Preventer will have with the tears. However, the consensus among the officers is that it was the best way to end it all.

000

For the Lupin Crew, since Fujiko and Lupin were married and they had more than enough treasure to last the rest of their lives, the four of them got back into Lupin's Mercedes-Benz in Monte Carlo (which is where they came back to after leaving Mydar) and headed upon the French roads to Paris. Obviously Zenigatta was two steps behind as Lupin was already halfway there.

Yet, he couldn't' help but also think that it was his last adventure through the tear. Then he decided not to think about it since he knew how much fun his new wife would be now that the woman he love was finally his, all his.

000

In the Toward Star World, the crew of the Outlaw Star had found themselves back on the bridge and in the middle of space. They had asked Gilliam where they were and they found out that they were in the exact place that they were when they encountered the tear. With that, they simply set course back for Sentinel-3 knowing about the bags of gold they had in their cargo bay.

"Boy, is Fred gonna be happy when he sees it." Gene smiled to himself as he looked over his shoulder to his wife who was floating naked in the navigation tube behind him. He only smiled as she looked back at him on their course back home.

000

Bernardellli Insurance Society Report

Investigator: Meryl Striffe

Report: This will be my last report regarding what I have come to call, "The Mydar Adventure". It will please the office to know that no damages were caused in our leave of absence from this world. It will also be noted that we have all returned safely to the village outside of L and R tower and our lives have returned to normal.

On a personal note to my co-workers, the ones who felt I would never achieve womanly happiness, I invite them to come and see the ring I've been given in marriage by the man I love. And that man is Vash the Stampede.

000

Jon woke up late in the afternoon with the heat and light coming through the basement windows. He stretched as he sat up sending out snaps and creeks from his joints as he stretched. It was summer which meant his sleeping hours were completely out of sync. He sat up and put his glasses on since he didn't want to put in his contact lenses because it would be the day that he finished it.

For Jon was a writer, at least he tried to be, then again a classmate of his (from creative writing) said that he was trying too hard. Maybe he was, but it wasn't important anymore, for in his writings he did fan fiction. He had been doing it for years, his most popular was his Gundam Saga (more specifically his Gundam Wing/G-Gundam cross-over), but the saga itself was about twelve stories long, including the one that he was about to finish that afternoon. Yet, he wondered if it was thirteen since there was an episode zero. Still, he didn't dwell too much on it as he came to his small office with his Dell Computer and his bookcases filled with DVD's, VHS tapes, CD's, cassettes, and books. It was his personal library as well as his office.

He sat down, turning on his lamp and beginning to pen the last section of the last chapter in his very last fan fiction. He, like the character he wrote about, wanted to get back to his original stories that he left for such a long time ever since he started fan fiction. He knew that if he was going to end his Gundam Saga, he may as well end it big. Thus the reason for the elaborate and lengthy story, then again he had been working on it since November, and it was already the end of June, which meant he had been working at it for about eight long months. Of course, there was the issue of whether he wanted to be a professional writer; it would have been nice, if it weren't such a difficult field to break into.

As he wrote he thought about his naysayer, for like many creative people, he suffered from very little creative support. Since there were those who said that he was doing rip-offs, or that he was doing too much of this or too little of that. There were even those in the fan fiction circles who criticized him a lot about using "rip-offs", but still when these pseudo-experts made such claims at him. He arrived at a very pertinent question, that being; "Isn't fan fiction itself a rip-off?" He had asked this of someone whom he had a nasty run in, but he never quite got an answer since he stormed out on him, because that person felt that he was still a "Noob", at least that's how it was written on the Instant Message window. It reminded him of a line from a song by the rapper Eminem that went:

_Nobody ever gave a fuck before; all they did was doubt me…_

_ Now everybody try to run their mouths and take shots at me…._

He felt exactly like that especially with the slew of run-ins that he's had with hard-core Evangelion fans. Receiving nasty reviews and even death threats, it seemed that the only way to win with them was to simply not write Eva fics, but then he brushed if off. He laughed when he thought to himself that Eva fans are so stringent that they make the most hard core Trekkies look lenient.

At last after an hour of writing long hand and his right hand feeling like it was about to fall apart at the joints, Jon was finally finished. He picked up his papers into one stack, set them aside, and started up his word processor. It took him another couple of hours until he came to the end and tried to think of a way to end his last fan fiction. He knew that a great ending story (like a farewell episode of a great TV series) should have an even better ending. He contemplated it and thought and thought about it, until he decided that he wasn't going to end it in a typical was. He was going to end it with a _"…and they lived happily ever after"_ kind of ending. He simply ended it. He reached up to the black keys of his Dell keyboard and typed in the very last line.

_"The tears were closed and all was well across the sea of possibilities."_

"I think that'll do." Jon said to himself as he started as he started up his music player and celebrated his complete and final Gundam Saga Fan fiction. He moved around the room as the screen for Microsoft Word held the title page of his last fic:

The DarkTower

Anime's Unite

The Absolute and Final End…


End file.
